Sedition case: Hardik’s voice test positive

Patel quota stir leader Hardik Patel’s voice spectrography test, done in connection with a sedition case against him, has shown positive results as his voice samples have matched with the voice in the intercepted calls, an official of the Forensic Science Laboratory at Gandhinagar said on Wednesday.

The FSL conducted the test on the request of the city crime branch, which charged Mr Hardik with sedition and “waging war against government” in its FIR last month.

The voice sample of Mr Hardik, who is lodged in Surat jail at present, was collected last month at FSL and the results were declared on Wednesday.

The voice-matching test was needed to verify claims of the crime branch that Mr Hardik’s phone interceptions revealed that he had indulged in activities that amount to sedition and waging war against the government.

“Hardik’s voice spectrography test showed positive result, as his voice samples matched with the the voice in audio clips of phone interceptions submitted to us by police. We have given our report to the police today,” a top FSL official said on condition of anonymity.

The city crime branch had arrested the 22-year-old firebrand Patel leader, after lodging an FIR against him here on October 21.

The FIR also named five of his key aides, including Mr Ketan Patel, Mr Dinesh Bambhaniya, Mr Alpesh Kathiriya, Mr Amrish Patel and Mr Chirag Patel. Mr Ketan, Mr Dinesh and Mr Chirag are behind the bars at present, while the two others have not been arrested yet after the high court’s intervention.

In the FIR, the police claimed that they intercepted numerous calls of Mr Hardik and his aides and found that he allegedly tried to incite Patel youths to resort to violence and rioting after their mega rally on August 25.

The FIR alleged that such instructions resulted in statewide violence and caused huge damage to public property as well as loss of life. To strengthen their case, the crime branch had decided to go for Mr Hardik’s voice matching test to prove that all these calls were made by him.

This is the second sedition FIR against Mr Hardik.