Lawyer among three held for murder of Vadodara-based trader

Police have arrested three persons, including a lawyer, for allegedly killing a 47-year-old trader near here last week over a financial matter, an officer said today.

The accused, identified as lawyer Vijay Rohit and his accomplices Shrikant Pawar and Mehul Mane, were arrested on Sunday for killing Suraj Shah on April 25, police said.

"Shah dealt in electronic goods. Rohit, who was Shah's friend, had borrowed Rs 4.60 lakh from him. However, he was not ready to return the money to Shah and hatched a conspiracy to kill the latter," R A Jadeja, inspector of Karelibag police station, said.

He called Shah to meet him on April 25. Before leaving home, Shah told his wife that he would be meeting Rohit and may return late that night, the officer said.

"At night, Shah's wife called him a number of times, but since he did not respond to her calls and did not return home, she grew suspicious. The next day, she lodged a missing person complaint with the police," Jadeja said.

Police immediately launched a probe and came across a CCTV footage, in which Shah was seen sitting in a car with Rohit, he added.

Police found out that the car belonged to a man from Nadiad town, around 60 kms from Vadodara. However, when they approached him, he informed them that he had already sold it to a man in Vadodara, who in turn informed them that he had given the vehicle to Mane on a rental basis.

"On April 29, police finally arrested Rohit and two other accused from the city. The trio confessed to having killed Shah and throwing his body into a canal on Halol Road near the city," Jadeja said adding that the body was recovered from the canal near Waghodia town, around 10 kms from Vadodara, yesterday.

"Rohit had given Rs 50,000 to Pawar and Mane to eliminate Shah. They strangulated Shah inside the car with a nylon rope and then tied his body with a stone and threw it into the canal near Halol Road. Thereafter, they visited Mount Abu in Rajasthan," he said.

The trio has been booked for murder, kidnapping, hatching a conspiracy to kill and destroying evidence, police said.

They were produced before a local court yesterday, which remanded them in six days of police custody, Jadeja said.

Further investigation into the case is on.