Lakhiya was arrested on Wednesday night. LCB officials said they received a tip-off that the BJP leader was going to a farmhouse to attend a New Year party somewhere in Surat or Bardoli.

Acting on the information, LCB officials maintained a watch at Kamrej crossroads on the national highway and caught Raju under suspicion.

LCB Inspector R V Rabari said: “We are in touch with the Navsari town police, as we had earlier

arrested two members of the Meir gang and had handed them to our Navsari counterparts. We are investigating as to whether Raju is involved in any land related case in Surat.”

Veja Meir and Bharat Meir, both residents of Rajkot, were arrested after a land owner from Navsari, Sanjay Patel, lodged a case against them and Raju alias Rajendra Lakhiya. Sanjay, in his complaint, alleged that the accused had threatened him to sign a document pertaining to an agricultural land.

Following this, Surat Rural Local Crime Branch officials, under guidance of Superintendent of Police

K G Bhati, had arrested the duo with loaded pistols from Gujan Guesthouse in Bardoli on June 12. The police had also recovered several agricultural land documents from their possession.

During interrogation, they reportedly revealed that Raju Lakhiya had given them the contract to threaten Patel to sign on a land document. The two had also tried to kidnap him, but failed.