Porbandar ganglord Bhima Dula Odedara booked in fresh cases of assault, possessing illegal liquor | Ahmedabad News
Gangster Bhima Dula Odedara was arrested following a raid at his farmhouse in Adityana village of Porbandar on Friday with a large cache of weapons, cash and some liquor, said police. This is the first time since January 2017 — when the mafioso was shot allegedly by a rival gang — is back in the public eye, the two fresh offences taking the cases against him to 50.
After his arrest, the Porbandar Local Crime Branch (LCB) sought five days remand of the four accused in the case, said inspector RK Kambariya. However, a local court did not deem fit to grant even a single day, sending him to judicial custody, he added.
A case of road rage, assault and arrest
The alleged incident, in connection with which the 70-year-old gangster and three other accused were arrested on Friday, took place on September 24. The FIR stated that when a man, identified as Dana Puna Chavda, was travelling to graze his cattle from Boricha village to Bakharla village, three men on a bike stopped near him, swore at him and allegedly thrashed him with blunt weapons, fracturing a bone in his leg. They also threatened to kill him.
A complaint was filed at Bagvadar police station in Porbandar under sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 117(2) (causing grievous hurt), 352 (insults intended to provoke someone into breaking public peace), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), and 54 (abettor present) of the BNS. They were also booked under section 135 (disobedience of official orders) of the Gujarat Police Act.
A police statement on Friday said that the Bagvadar team — investigating the matter — found that about three months prior to the incident, Bhima Dula Odedara had an altercation with two people on the streets of Boricha.
In the light of that incident, the statement added, Odedara had allegedly decided to attack Chavda. He allegedly conspired with his three accomplices — Jaymal Odhad Kalavadara, Vanraj Rama Odedara and Mashri Lakhman Odedara — and sent them to assault Chavda.
The investigation was then handed over to the Local Crime Branch (LCB). The LCB received information that Jaymal Odhad Kalavadara and Vanraj Rama Odedara would be passing through Boricha village and the two were apprehended by three teams of police personnel.
A total of six teams of police were formed, headed by deputy superintendent of police Surjeet Mahedu, with three inspectors and a sub-inspector. They went to Odedara’s house in Adityana village and arrested the third absconding accused, Mashri Lakhman Odedara, as well as Bhima Dula Odedara. They found a large number of weapons and cash and liquor from the house, said officials.
Following his arrest as an alleged conspirator in the assault case, Bhima Dula Odedara was then booked under sections of The Gujarat Prohibition Act in an FIR filed at Ranavav Police station by inspector Kambariya of the Porbandar LCB. The FIR was filed after three bottles of liquor were seized during the raid of Odedara’s farmhouse.
Bhima Dula Odedara is the brother of former three-time Kutiyana BJP MLA Karsan Dula Odedara. The Odedaras are known to have a long standing rivalry with the Jadeja family led by ‘Godmother’ Santokben Jadeja, who was also MLA of Kutiyana from a Janta Dal ticket and as an independent. Currently, her son Kandhal Jadeja is the three-time MLA from Kutiyana on a Samajwadi Party ticket.
Interestingly, Bhima Dula Odedara, has, with the addition of two recent FIRs, now 50 cases to his name, with the first one being filed way back in 1975 in Bagvadar police station, for causing grievous hurt. Odedara has been, between 1975 and 2011, booked for a veritable range of crimes including murder and attempted murder.
However, this is the first time he has been booked for a crime after the year 2011. An official list of the cases against Odedara accessed by The Indian Express shows there isn’t a single case against him in the 12 years between 2012 and 2023. Notably, 2011 was also the year in which Santokben Jadeja passed away.
In 2013, Gujarat HC sentenced Bhima Dula Odedara to life imprisonment for a 2004 double murder. Notably, in the same year – 2013 – Odedara was acquitted by a Porbandar court, along with 9 others, in the 2005 murder of Congress leader Mulu Modhwadia.
Son, daughter-in-law booked under Arms Act
Meanwhile, gangster’s son Lakhman Bhima Odedara and daughter-in-law Santok Odedara were both booked under section 30 of The Arms Act. This FIR, filed by Kambariya on behalf of the government, was registered following a raid at their farmhouse.
Police found a double barrelled 12 bore gun and 107 live cartridges for this weapon, in the name of Santok Odedara; a 12 bore pumping action SBBL gun with 100 live cartridges in the name of Bhima Odedara’s wife Rudi; a 38 bore pistol with 106 cartridges in the name of Lakhman Odedara; a 38 bore revolver with 130 live cartridges in the name of Lakhman Odedara; a total of 69 live cartridges for another rifle which was earlier seized by Bagvadar police. The husband and wife were booked for possessing more live cartridges than allowed under the terms of their gun licenses.
