Police said that Ghatlodia inspector D.A. Rathod had arrested Darshan Singh Rathod, Jagdish Singh Chauhan, Navneet Devar, Mohit Bharadwaj, and Manjit Singh for beating up Dinesh Govavbhai Desai and his father Govavbhai for not paying installments on their Maruti Esteem, bought on a loan from 20th Century Finance Co.

Police said that one of the accused, Jagdish Singh, had opened a partnership firm, Royal Financial Securities Services, through which he used to take contracts for the recovery of loans of various financial companies and banks.

Desai had taken a loan for Maruti and had failed to pay the installments. On Wednesday afternoon, when Desai was going in his car with his father, the five accosted them at Sola Road, near Sarvodaya petrol pump, beat them up and snatched the car after pushing them out.

Ghatlodia police station inspector Rathod was passing by, stopped, and tried to end the fracas, but was pushed aside.

He then arrested the five and produced them before a local court where from they were remanded in judicial custody. After that, a group of Congress workers headed by Deepak Babaria and Dinesh Raval gheraoed the Ghatlodia police station, shouted slogans and created a scene. However, police said, they prevented any untoward happening and immediately called more police vehicles patrolling on the highway.

When contacted, Depak Babaria was not available at his residence. His family sources said that he had travelled out of the city. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president C D Patel could not be contacted till late in the night as he was busy after Madhavrao Scindia's visit in the city. However, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Amarsinh Chaudhary said that he came to know about the incident only on Thursday night and therefore would comment on it only after verifying details.