Police constable Sunita Yadav, who had a confrontation with a minister’s son over the lockdown violation that led to his arrest in Gujarat’s Surat city, has claimed she has resigned from service. However, a senior police officer has denied it.

Prakash Kanani, the son of Gujarat minister of state for health Kumar Kanani, and his two friends were arrested on Sunday for allegedly violating the lockdown and night curfew orders in Surat, a Covid-19 hotspot, a senior police officer had earlier said.

Yadav, who is being hailed on social media for taking action against the minister’s son, told news channels on Wednesday that she had put in her papers. “I have resigned because I did not receive support from my superior officers. I was only doing my duty as a constable. It’s the fault of our system that these people (like the minister’s son) think they are VVIPs,” she said.

However, Surat police commissioner R.B. Brahmbhatt has denied that she has resigned. “She has not given her resignation. The inquiry is still on and technically she cannot resign at this juncture,” he said.

Yadav’s action had led to the registration of an FIR and arrest of Kanani and two of his friends. The arrests came after a video of a heated exchange between them and Yadav, who had pulled up the trio for the violation of curfew, surfaced on social media. The trio was later released on bail.

Since the incident, Yadav is being hailed on social media.

While some called her “Lady Singham”, referring to the tough cop in the movie Singham, some suggested she should contest the 2022 state Assembly polls against minister Kumar Kanani who represents the Varachha constituency in Surat district.

#i_support_sunita_yadav” began to trend on Twitter after the news of the confrontation spread.