Surat police arrest AAP leader Gopal Italia for comments against BJP leaders

Surat, April 17 (IANS) Gujarat Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Gopal Italia was arrested by the Crime Branch of Surat Police on Monday for allegedly making derogatory remarks against a state minister and the BJP's Gujarat unit chief.

Italia's was booked in September last year for his alleged defamatory remarks about Hujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi and BJP's state unit chief C.R. Patil. The complaint was filed by a BJP worker, Pratap Chodwadia, and the case was later handed over to the Crime Branch.

The arrest of former Gujarat AAP chief Italia is the latest in a string of troubles for the party. Senior AAP leaders, including former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Satyendar Jain, are currently lodged in Tihar jail. Additionally, AAP national convenor and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was questioned by the CBI for nine hours on Sunday in connection with the excise liquor policy case.

Italia made the controversial remarks in a video that went viral in August last year. In the video, Italia could be heard calling Harsh Sanghavi a 'drugs Sanghavi'.

BJP worker Pratap Chodwadia had filed a case against Italia, accusing him of making derogatory remarks against the state minister and the BJP's state unit chief.

Italia has a history of making controversial comments about prominent leaders. Last year, he was detained by Delhi police for his alleged derogatory remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a video that was reportedly from 2019 in the run-up to the general elections, Italia was heard calling PM Modi a "neech aadmi" (a lowly person).