In a shocking incident in 'modern Gujarat', a video of six petrol pump employees made to undergo 'Agni Pariksha' by dipping their hands in boiling oil to prove their honesty following theft of Rs6 lakh has gone viral on social media.
The six sustained severe burns on their hands.
The incident which came to fore from Jambuthal village near Sanand town in Ahmedabad district is hardly 10 km from the Tata Nano plant, where the ruling party BJP claims of massive development. Sources said the money was stolen from a petrol pump on Saturday night owned by former MLA from Congress and now a BJP leader Karamshi Patel, of Koli community, near Viramgam.
The video shows six semi-clad people taking oath in front of goddess of a temple in the village saying they did not steal money and dipping their hands into hot oil.
Sources said Patel initially doubted on three of the employees who were working in night shift. Patel's son registered an FIR against the trio on Sunday at a local police station. Meanwhile, on Tuesday morning, some men, allegedly related to Patel, forced all the six employees to undergo 'Agni Pariksha' at Jambuthal village. When contacted, Karamshi Patel, said, "We did not force anyone to undergo Agni Pariksha. These six people had gone voluntarily as there is a tradition in our Koli community to perform the procedure to come out clean from any allegation."
The politician said, "Out of Rs12 lakh kept in the safe, only Rs 6 lakh were stolen. They had also switched off the CCTV during this incident. When it was switched on, three employees can be seen sleeping peacefully. We suspected their involvement and lodged an FIR against them. We don't know who called them for 'Paarkha'." He however did not pay courtesy to meet the employees after the incident and blamed that Congress was doing this to defame him ahead of polls. Patel was elected as Congress MLA in 2012 polls but voted for BJP candidate Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha polls held in August, 2017. He has demanded a ticket from Sanand before the BJP leaders.
