Sedition case: Hardik Patel's voice matches intercepted calls

Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel's voice spectrography test has shown positive results. The test was done in connection with a sedition case against him. The results have matched the voice in the intercepted calls, an official of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) at Gandinagar said today.

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

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

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The voice-matching test was needed to verify claims of the crime branch that 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.

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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 Ketan Patel, Dinesh Bambhaniya, Alpesh Kathiriya, Amrish Patel and Chirag Patel. Ketan, Dinesh and Chirag are behind bars at present, while the two others are not yet arrested after High Court's intervention.

In the FIR, police claimed that they intercepted numerous calls of 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.

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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 Hardik's voice matching test to prove that all these calls were made by him.

This is the second sedition FIR against him. Last month, Surat police arrested Hardik on the charges of sedition for allegedly inciting a fellow activist to kill policemen instead of committing suicide.

Later, the city crime branch brought him here on a transfer warrant and took him to FSL to conducted the voice spectrography test, after Hardik gave his consent.