BJP expels Jayesh Patel after he was arrested for the rape of nursing student in Gujarat

Vadodara: A top official of city-based Parul University has been arrested after a nursing student accused him of raping her, police said on Wednesday. The woman rector of a girls’ hostel has also been arrested for allegedly abetting the crime. Jayesh Patel, the founder and former president of Parul University, who was accused of raping the student a few days back and evading arrest since then, was arrested by the rural police on Tuesday night when he was coming to the city from Anand, in his car, they said. “We had been searching for him since last many days. Based on a tip-off, 66-year-old Patel was nabbed by rural police at Asodar cross roads near Anand at around 11 pm on Tuesday. He has been brought here for further questioning,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP), Vadodara rural police, SL Bhatt said. [caption id=“attachment_2795380” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Gujarat police. AFP[/caption] “After his medical check-up, we will produce him before a court to seek his remand,” Bhatt said. Patel is the founder of Parul University, a private varsity located at Limdi village under Waghodia taluka in the district. After the rape complaint was filed on 18 June, Patel went underground. He was subsequently expelled from the post of president of the university by its authorities. Later, he was also expelled from BJP, which he had joined in 2014, party spokesman Bharat Pandya said. In the FIR, the 21-year-old girl, who is studying in a local nursing institute affiliated to the varsity, also accused the girls’ hostel woman rector Bhavnaben Patel of abetting the crime. The complainant said in the FIR that she was allegedly raped by Jayesh Patel at his house located near the girls’ hostel, after Bhavnaben took her there during the intervening night of 16 and 17 June. The victim also alleged that Patel threatened to rusticate her from the institute and spoil her career by failing her in exams if she revealed it to anyone, police said. “Since Bhavnaben was also involved in the crime, we arrested her on 19 June and took her remand,” Bhatt said. A case was lodged at Waghodia police station against them under sections 376 (rape), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 114 (abetting the crime), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, police said. Prior to joining BJP in 2014, Jayesh Patel had contested the state Assembly election twice as Congress candidate against sitting BJP MLA Madhu Srivastav and lost on both the occasions. Before his arrest on Tuesday night, police recovered a video, which was purportedly recorded a day before the FIR was lodged. In the video, which went viral a few days back, Patel is seen as saying that he would be in trouble if a case is registered against him. Meanwhile, the Parul University, in a statement issued on Wednesday, said that the allegations against Jayesh Patel are individual in nature. The varsity’s new president, Devanshu Patel, in a statement said his father Jayesh Patel has been removed from the president’s post after the case was lodged. He also said that the administration of the university was now in the hands of two women officials.