A car carrying Vishwa Hindu Parishad chief Pravin Togadia was hit by a truck in Surat district on Wednesday. Togadia was not hurt, but accused the Gujarat government of weakening his security cover “deliberately”, PTI reported. He claimed it was a conspiracy to kill him.

He claimed “not a single person in [his vehicle] would have survived” if it had not been bullet-proof. The car was carrying another person with him.

The incident took place near Kamrej town in Surat district when Togadia was on his way to attend a function, Surat Rural Superintendent of Police MK Nayak said. The police seized the truck and arrested its driver.

The driver told police that he had tried to stop the truck but the brakes failed and hit Togadia’s car, News18 reported. The VHP leader, however, said that the driver had not applied the brake intentionally. He also said the driver’s call details for the past three months should be checked.

Togadia said that according to the Z-plus security protocol, he had earlier been given a pilot vehicle to move in front of his car, an escort vehicle and an ambulance behind it, and a vehicle on one side. But this was the first time “no escort vehicle was provided behind our vehicle, as per directions from Gandhinagar”, he alleged.

In January, Togadia had gone missing for hours, after which he said that someone had told him that there was a plan to kill him in an encounter. He had alleged that attempts were being made to stop him from speaking on matters including the Ayodhya dispute, welfare schemes for farmers and the law on cow slaughter.

He had said he would not be silenced and would continue to work for the welfare of Hindus.