SGCCI condemns attack on ex-president Ashish Gujarati in Rajasthan

Surat | Gujarat — The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SGCCI) has expressed serious concern with the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Bhajanlal Sharma over the attack on the former president of SGCCI, Ashish Gujarati, in the state of Rajasthan and requested him to intervene for appropriate action.

SGCCI president Nikhil Madrasi said that the Chamber has informed the Chief Minister of Rajasthan in the representation that on the night of October 26, 2025, at around 11:30 PM, former president of the chamber, Ashish Gujarati and his family were attacked by robbers armed with sticks in the Pipli area near Udaipur. The attackers hit him on the head and threatened to kill him, due to which the entire family was frightened and went into mental shock.

After this attack,  Ashish Gujarati’s family contacted the nearby Surajpol police station for immediate help, but the officials there refused to register a Zero FIR on the grounds of ‘jurisdiction’. The Chamber has mentioned in its letter that the Zero FIR system is accepted across India and according to it any police station can register a crime, even if it is outside the limits of the place of incident. Finally, the higher authorities cooperated and with their cooperation, the FIR was registered three days later on October 29, 2025.

The SGCCI has also brought to the notice of the Rajasthan Government that due to the lack of mobile network connectivity (Vi service) in the area of ​​about 50 km between Pipli and Udaipur, the victim’s family could not get immediate help. Moreover, the emergency helpline number provided by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) also remained unanswered, due to which the family was completely helpless.

The SGCCI has requested the Chief Minister to conduct a timely and impartial investigation into the incident, catch the culprits and give them legal punishment and take appropriate action against the police officers who showed indifference in registering a Zero FIR. 

In addition, the security system on the state’s highways and tourist routes should be strengthened. Along with this, the chamber has also demanded improvements in mobile network connectivity, emergency helpline response and highway communication infrastructure, so that such an incident does not happen to anyone in the future.

The chamber has further said that some time ago, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan visited Surat and invited industrialists from South Gujarat to invest in Rajasthan, but such an unfortunate incident shocks the confidence of the industry and also affects the ‘safe and investor friendly’ image of Rajasthan.