Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel surfaced on Wednesday after his mysterious disappearance on Tuesday and claimed he was abducted, hours after the Gujarat high court in a dramatic post-midnight hearing directed the state government to locate him.
Adding to the mystery after the police said he has gone "missing, Hardik claimed he had been "abducted" by some unknown people with weapons and that he was threatened to abandon his agitation which has thrown a challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state, failing which he would be eliminated.
According to Patel leaders, Hardik called them at around noon and asked them to pick him up from the highway passing from Dhrangadhra town in Surendranagar district of Gujarat.
"Some persons chased my car near Bayad (in Aravalli district)... then I was picked up by some persons.. after that I was made to sit in a car for the entire night," Hardik told reporters.
"I was threatened to leave this agitation or I would be eliminated. The person threatened me saying that it is the first and last warning, and if I am ever seen addressing a public meeting in a village, I will be eliminated," he claimed.
"After threatening me for entire night and ferrying me from Bayad, he left me at a village in Dhrangdhara taluka of Surendranagar," Hardik said.
"I do not know who was he, whether a policeman or anyone else but he had a revolver with him," he claimed.
"I wanted to know about the person and at whose behest he had kept me under his custody for the entire night," he said
Gandhinagar Range Inspector General Hasmukh Patel earlier said they could not locate him but if he is found, then he will be produced before court.
In a rare post-midnight hearing that went on till 2.40 am, the high court directed the state government to find Hardik after an aide moved a habeas corpus petition alleging that the young leader had been illegally detained by the police.
However, the police had maintained that he was not detained by them.
A division bench comprising justices M R Shah and K J Thaker heard the petition at 1.20 AM with Hardik's aide Dinesh Patel seeking court's intervention to direct authorities to produce Hardik.
The court issued notice to the Gujarat government, the director general of police, range inspector general and Aravalli district superintendent of police directing them to file their reply on Thursday.
Public prosecutor Mitesh Amin said Hardik is not in police custody. However, the high court asked the state government to find Hardik saying "he is a citizen of the country".
The hearing conducted at the residence of one of the two judges concluded at 2.40 am.
The petitioner submitted that he was with Hardik when the police tried to detain him. He alleged that Hardik must have been in police custody.
Hardik had on Tuesday organised a public meeting in Bayad taluka of Aravali district allegedly without prior permission. After the meeting, police tried to detain him but according to IG Hasmukh Patel he managed to evade them.
The police later registered an FIR against Hardik and 20 others for violating prohibitory orders.