Late-Night Raid At Restaurant After Madhya Pradesh Minister Allegedly Told To Wait
Bhopal:
Madhya Pradesh Minister for Public Health and Medical Education, Narendra Shivaji Patel, allegedly triggered a surprise food safety raid on a local restaurant late Sunday night - not over health concerns, but after allegedly failing to secure a table. While the minister has denied the allegations, the state Chamber of Commerce has expressed outrage and said they would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The incident unfolded at the popular "Quality Restaurant" in Patel Nagar, where the minister, reportedly fresh from attending the wedding reception of Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar's son on Sunday, arrived with his family.
Dressed in formal attire rather than the usual political garb, Mr Patel was not recognised by the busy restaurant staff. They informed him that all tables were booked and asked him to wait.
Enraged, the minister allegedly called officials from the Food Safety Department, claiming hygiene violation.
Within minutes, a full team was on-site. By 11:15 pm, the kitchen was under inspection, and five samples - including of oil, paneer, and mawa - were collected.
Witnesses said the hotel staff started apologising as officials swept the kitchen. A video of the raid, showing Mr Patel giving instructions and the restaurant operator being pushed aside, has since been widely circulated.
The local business community is hugely upset.
Representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and other trade organisations rushed to the restaurant late at night, calling the action "dictatorship" and "hooliganism".
"This is not governance. This is misuse of power," said Chamber President Dr Praveen Agarwal.
"We will write to the Prime Minister and Chief Minister demanding a high-level inquiry and the dismissal of Minister Patel," he added.
When Gwalior's Guardian minister Tulsi Silavat and Energy Minister Pradyuman Singh tried to mediate and de-escalate, Mr Patel doubled down, calling the restaurant a "den of adulteration" and slamming the Chamber of Commerce for "shielding wrongdoing".
When contacted, Mr Patel denied the allegations, terming them "baseless" and part of a "conspiracy to avoid legal action".
"I didn't go there to eat. I had already eaten at the wedding. This was an inspection. It is my working style - I take surprise action wherever I go," he said.
He also said the hype around the seating issue was "irrelevant and laughable".
"You really think a minister won't get a table?" he said, chuckling.
He further claimed the Gwalior-Chambal area has become a "hotspot of adulteration" and vowed to continue such surprise inspections.
This isn't Mr Patel's first brush with controversy.
Just a year ago, the police in Bhopal had filed a case against his son Abhigyan Patel, allegedly for creating a ruckus. The minister had broken down in the assembly over the First Information Report, accusing the system of targeting his family.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Five arrested for robbing ₹50 lakh cash from angadia
Mumbai: The LT Marg police arrested five men on Sunday for robbing ₹ 50 lakh cash from an angadia, a local courier used to deliver money. (Getty Images) According to the police, the victim, Yogesh Patel, 37, works in an angadia firm in Bhuleshwar. On Saturday when he was delivering ₹ 50 lakh cash, three people caught him by the collar and, pretending to be policemen, snatched his phone and made him follow them to a nearby hotel. The accused made him get into a car and sit between two of them in the back seat. Patel told the police that when he resisted, one of the accused threatened him with a knife. The accused later snatched the bag containing money, drove to Kharghar in Navi Mumbai, and threw him out of the car telling him to leave Mumbai or they would find him and hurt him. However, Patel noted down the car's number, borrowed a phone from a passing biker and informed his manager Sameer Patel about the incident, and filed a police complaint. Patel told the police he had been carrying 9,800 notes of ₹ 500, and 1,000 notes of ₹ 100, totalling ₹ 50 lakh. The police tracked the car to Pune, and with the help of local police caught two of the accused, Ajay Lokhande, 32, Revansiddha Javale, 27. The two confessed to the crime and the police recovered the chopper knife and ₹ 26 lakh cash from them. Further investigation led the police to the other two accused Sagar Jadhav, 29, and Vikas Dabde, 36, from whom the police recovered ₹ 2 lakh cash. The fifth accused, Dilip Dhekale, 43, was caught at his residence in Thane, and when the police searched his house they found ₹ 96,000. According to the police, Dhekhale also had a press identity card and the forged identity card of a police constable from Thane. The police have recovered ₹ 29 lakh and are trying to trace the remaining amount. The five accused have been booked under sections 204 (personating a public servant), 205 (Wearing garb or carrying token used by public servant with fraudulent intent), 140(2) (kidnapping or abducting), 309(4) (robbery), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) along with relevant sections of the Maharashtra Police Act.
Indian Express
10 hours ago
- Indian Express
Jaikrishn trapped as part of a political conspiracy: BAP
Over a month and a half after Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) MLA Jaikrishn Patel was caught allegedly taking a Rs 20 lakh bribe, the party said Sunday that it has concluded in its internal investigation that he was trapped as part of a 'political conspiracy'. Party's national president Mohan Lal Roat told The Indian Express that there are plenty of things pointing towards a political conspiracy. 'There are discrepancies in the press conference by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (following Patel's arrest) and the FIR lodged in the case. It is said there were about 48 calls between the two (MLA Patel and complainant Ravindra Kumar). But our MLA replied 1-2 times but most of the calls were by him (Kumar).' Next, Roat questioned the idea of money being given in lieu of 'withdrawing' three Assembly questions when two of these were already answered last year and were in the public domain. 'What was the idea behind taking money to 'withdraw' the questions put up in July last year, when the government had clearly and promptly answered those questions.' Party MP Rajkumar Roat too has questioned the circumstances, saying, 'Since 1952, there must have been about 3,000 MLAs in Rajasthan; excluding those who repeated, there must have been 2,000 to 2,500 MLAs so far in the state. But this was the first time an MLA was trapped. From what our team has investigated, he was trapped as part of a conspiracy.' 'The person on the other end called 40-42 times. Why would the person, who was the MLA candidate for the now ruling party, get scared and give a bribe to the MLA of a regional party? This was planning and this was a conspiracy,' the MP said, referring to complainant Ravindra Kumar's father Ramniwas Meena. While Ravindra Kumar had contested 2023 Assembly elections from Karauli as a BSP candidate and stood third – behind BJP and Congress candidates – his father, Ramniwas Meena and co-owner of the mines, had contested the 2023 election from Todabhim on a BJP ticket but lost to Congress's Ghanshyam Mahar. On May 4, first-time MLA Patel, and a middleman Vijay Patel were arrested by the ACB for allegedly accepting a Rs 20-lakh bribe – the second instalment of a Rs 2.5 crore bribe – in lieu of withdrawing Assembly questions on mining. The ACB had said this was the first instance of it arresting an MLA in the state, and the mines in question are in Todabhim, about 600 kilometres away from the MLA's constituency in Banswara. Party chief Roat said that things would be clearer once they get to meet the MLA. 'We haven't been able to meet the MLA. They are not giving us time to meet, (but once this happens) this will help us clear more things. Moreover, the BJP candidate too had said that he won't let him (Patel) stay around for more than six months,' he said, referring to BJP leader Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya. 'So, due to all of this, we have concluded that he was trapped as part of a conspiracy,' the party chief said. Malviya was elected from Bagidora Assembly in 2023 on a Congress ticket but had left the party to join the BJP last year. He had then unsuccessfully contested the Banswara Lok Sabha (which includes Bagidora Assembly) against BAP's Rajkumar Roat. In the Bagidora bypoll too, BAP's Jaikrishn had defeated BJP's Subhash Tamboliya by a convincing margin of over 51,000 votes. The party's five-member team which investigated the case included party's three MLAs Umesh Meena (Aaspur), Thavar Chand (Dhariyawad), Anil Kumar Katara (Chorasi), party's national spokesperson Jitendra Meena, and party leader Kanti Bhai. MP Roat also said that Patel was 'trapped by people in power as part of a conspiracy. And the people have understood, because the Panchayat Samiti seat which the BJP had won earlier with 600 votes, lost in the by-election. The people have given a befitting reply.' 'We know that if he has made a mistake then his membership might be terminated. But we will have more clarity only once we meet him, and what is said in the chargesheet etc,' party's national president Mohan Lal Roat said.
Indian Express
12 hours ago
- Indian Express
Rajasthan MLA caught taking bribe was trapped in ‘political conspiracy': Bharat Adivasi Party
Over a month and a half after Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) MLA Jaikrishn Patel was caught allegedly taking a Rs 20 lakh bribe, the party said Sunday that it has concluded in its internal investigation that he was trapped as part of a 'political conspiracy'. Party's national president Mohan Lal Roat told The Indian Express that there are plenty of things pointing towards a political conspiracy. 'There are discrepancies in the press conference by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (following Patel's arrest) and the FIR lodged in the case. It is said there were about 48 calls between the two (MLA Patel and complainant Ravindra Kumar). But our MLA replied 1-2 times but most of the calls were by him (Kumar).' Next, Roat questioned the idea of money being given in lieu of 'withdrawing' three Assembly questions when two of these were already answered last year and were in the public domain. 'What was the idea behind taking money to 'withdraw' the questions put up in July last year, when the government had clearly and promptly answered those questions.' Party MP Rajkumar Roat too has questioned the circumstances, saying, 'Since 1952, there must have been about 3,000 MLAs in Rajasthan; excluding those who repeated, there must have been 2,000 to 2,500 MLAs so far in the state. But this was the first time an MLA was trapped. From what our team has investigated, he was trapped as part of a conspiracy.' 'The person on the other end called 40-42 times. Why would the person, who was the MLA candidate for the now ruling party, get scared and give a bribe to the MLA of a regional party? This was planning and this was a conspiracy,' the MP said, referring to complainant Ravindra Kumar's father Ramniwas Meena. While Ravindra Kumar had contested 2023 Assembly elections from Karauli as a BSP candidate and stood third – behind BJP and Congress candidates – his father, Ramniwas Meena and co-owner of the mines, had contested the 2023 election from Todabhim on a BJP ticket but lost to Congress's Ghanshyam Mahar. On May 4, first-time MLA Patel, and a middleman Vijay Patel were arrested by the ACB for allegedly accepting a Rs 20-lakh bribe – the second instalment of a Rs 2.5 crore bribe – in lieu of withdrawing Assembly questions on mining. The ACB had said this was the first instance of it arresting an MLA in the state, and the mines in question are in Todabhim, about 600 kilometres away from the MLA's constituency in Banswara. Party chief Roat said that things would be clearer once they get to meet the MLA. 'We haven't been able to meet the MLA. They are not giving us time to meet, (but once this happens) this will help us clear more things. Moreover, the BJP candidate too had said that he won't let him (Patel) stay around for more than six months,' he said, referring to BJP leader Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya. 'So, due to all of this, we have concluded that he was trapped as part of a conspiracy,' the party chief said. Malviya was elected from Bagidora Assembly in 2023 on a Congress ticket but had left the party to join the BJP last year. He had then unsuccessfully contested the Banswara Lok Sabha (which includes Bagidora Assembly) against BAP's Rajkumar Roat. In the Bagidora bypoll too, BAP's Jaikrishn had defeated BJP's Subhash Tamboliya by a convincing margin of over 51,000 votes. The party's five-member team which investigated the case included party's three MLAs Umesh Meena (Aaspur), Thavar Chand (Dhariyawad), Anil Kumar Katara (Chorasi), party's national spokesperson Jitendra Meena, and party leader Kanti Bhai. MP Roat also said that Patel was 'trapped by people in power as part of a conspiracy. And the people have understood, because the Panchayat Samiti seat which the BJP had won earlier with 600 votes, lost in the by-election. The people have given a befitting reply.' 'We know that if he has made a mistake then his membership might be terminated. But we will have more clarity only once we meet him, and what is said in the chargesheet etc,' party's national president Mohan Lal Roat said.
