By IANS
Ahmedabad : Babubhai Bokhiria, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Gujarat minister who was wanted in a case of illegal mining, was arrested here Wednesday on his return from London.
He was taken to his hometown Porbandar.
The arrest comes a day after the Supreme Court rejected his plea seeking anticipatory bail.
A bench of Justice B.N. Agarwal directed him to surrender before the state police, stating that police cannot be denied the right of custodial interrogation and further probe the case.
The minister had been declared a proclaimed offender in the case of illegal mining and theft of limestone in the state totalling Rs.5 billion.
A complaint of illegal mining was filed by Saurashtra Chemicals Limited (SCL), a soda ash manufacturer, in October 2006 against four people including Bokhiria, who handled ports, fisheries and irrigation portfolios in the late 1990s in the ministry headed by Keshubhai Patel.