Court wants police report on marital status of Modi

The Ahmedabad police has been given time till May 5 to explain to a local court the status of an application against Narendra Modi on the charge of hiding facts on his marital status in a sworn statement.

Acting upon a plea moved by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) activist Nishant Verma, additional chief judicial magistrate M M Sheikh has ordered the police to file its reply within 20 days as to what action had been taken on Verma’s complaint in a local police station. Verma had earlier approached a city police station seeking to file an FIR against Modi, 63, for not declaring his marital status in his affidavit during the 2012 Gujarat assembly elections.

He had also sought action to be taken against P K Jadeja, the Maninagar assembly seat’s returning officer for the 2012 polls while naming him in the FIR.

For the first time, Modi had on April 9 revealed in an affidavit filed along with his nomination for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat that he was married and his wife’s name was Jashodaben.

Since the city police refused to register Verma’s application against the Gujarat chief minister, he approached the court on Wednesday. He had also written a letter to chief electoral officer of Gujarat, Anita Karwal, seeking stern action against Modi.