The police on Friday foiled a self-immolation bid by a Patel quota leader, Nirav Patel, minutes before he could set himself ablaze outside the entrance of the Sachivalaya in Gandhinagar.
Apart from Nirav, who is the Mahisagar district convener of the Patidar Anamant Andolan Samiti (PAAS), seven other Patel quota leaders have been detained, said a senior police official.
A few days ago, Nirav had said that he would end his life by setting himself ablaze outside the Sachivalaya, if Patel agitation spearhead Hardik and other PAAS leaders, who are facing sedition charges, were not released from jail by January-end.
“We had received inputs that Nirav will try to immolate himself outside the Sachivalaya today. As soon as he arrived and poured kerosene over himself, we detained him. Along with him, seven other PAAS members were also detained,” said the official.
“The detainees also include a woman agitator Reshma Patel. All of them have been kept under preventive detention. We will release them in due course,” added the official.