VHP's Pravin Togadia alleges, 'Plan was being made to kill me in an encounter'

"I am being threatened via IB" Pravin Togadia said and added-"I switched off my phone after Rajasthan HM refused sending warrant against me".

International Working President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad Pravin Togadia

New Delhi: Within hours after gaining consciousness on Tuesday morning the International Working President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) Pravin Togadia said that there were "plans" to kill him  in an "encounter". He addressed the media and said-"I am being targeted for a decade old case, there is an attempt to suppress my voice. Rajasthan Police team came to arrest me. Someone told me plan was being made to kill me in an encounter."

LIVE: "Yesterday Rajasthan police came to me with arrest warrant" says #PravinTogadia https://t.co/JQJlKZeiOk pic.twitter.com/0DlninX0FC

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) January 16, 2018

"I am being threatened via IB" he said and added-"I switched off my phone after Rajasthan HM refused sending warrant against me".

LIVE: #Togadia breaks down while addressing press briefing https://t.co/JQJlKZeiOk pic.twitter.com/uzLBkrccgq — ABP News (@abpnewstv) January 16, 2018

"Will keep fighting for Ram Mandir, and cow protection for ever," he added. VHP on Monday claimed Pravin Togadia was "missing" since morning and later in the evening, he was traced in a state of unconsciousness at Ahmedabad’s Shahibaug. He was then admitted to Chandramani Hospital in Shahibaug. Earlier on Monday, it was said that the VHP claimed Togadia (62) was detained by the Rajasthan Police in connection with a case, but the latter denied this. Local Sola police station officials said a team of Rajasthan Police visited them today to execute an arrest warrant against the Hindutva leader under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC in an old case, but could not find him at his residence. VHP workers laid a siege to the Sola police station, shouted slogans, and blocked traffic on main Sarkehj- Gandhinagar highway demanding that the police immediately locate him. "Our International Working President Pravin Togadia is missing since 10 am today. The responsibility of his whereabouts and security lies with the administration," the VHP's Gujarat unit general secretary Ranchod Bharwad told reporters. VHP spokesperson Jay Shah, however, claimed that Togadia was detained by the Rajasthan Police in an old case. "Our leader Pravin Togadia has been detained in an old case and was taken away by the Rajasthan Police from the VHP state headquarters in Paldi area of the city," he claimed. (With agency inputs)