On Sunday, the Atkot police in Rural Rajkot received a call from a local resident about a man’s body found lying at the edge of a lake. Police reached the spot but since the body had no specific identifier, it was not immediately clear who it belonged to.
The body was sent for post-mortem examination, and police filed an Accidental Death (AD) report into the matter. However, police officers were suspicious that the case was that of murder and began probing it accordingly.
Police had two immediate tasks at hand: Finding out who the deceased man was, and how he turned up dead at a lakeside in a village.
The police began with looking into recent missing persons cases.
They found that one Dharmesh Dhiru Makwana had filed a report on August 29, stating that his brother Lalji was missing. On seeing the unidentified body, Dharmesh confirmed it was that of his brother.
To find out who was behind Lalji’s death, the Rajkot Rural Police formed three teams – one each of Local Crime Branch (LCB), Special Operations Group (SOG) and Atkot police.
While looking into Lalji’s history, police learnt that Jasdan police had received an application in March against him: The deceased had allegedly tried to sell someone’s Eeco car to another person by fraud.
Inspector VV Odedara of the Rural Rajkot LCB told The Indian Express, “When we checked that application, we learned that one Alfu Amru Jebaliya had to return the Eeco car to the original owner as Lalji had no right to sell it. We began a search for Jebaliya and apprehended him along with two other accused.”
The three accused confessed before police that Dhiru died while in their illegal confinement.
According to a police statement, “Jebaliya had purchased an Eeco car from Dhiru for Rs 1.4 lakh. Jebaliya paid Makwana Rs 90,000 and it was decided he would pay the rest when the car’s ownership was transferred in his name. However, the original owner of the vehicle, Jitendra Dhiru Vaghela, filed an application with Jasdan police, claiming the vehicle and so, Jebaliya handed the car over to him.”
The alleged confession further stated, “Meanwhile, Lalji did not return the Rs 90,000 he had taken from Jebaliya. So, on August 29 morning, Jebaliya and Jay Manglu Bhojak, lay in wait. As soon as he left his house, the duo followed him on another bike and pushed him to the ground. They then abducted him and illegally confined him at a farm near Virnagar village.”
According to the police statement, the accused had confessed to have tied Lalji to a tree and thrashed him with an electrical cable. Then, they allegedly made him call his wife and ask her to keep Rs 20,000 in cash ready. The amount was picked up by the third accused, Siddhraj Alfu Gida.
The three accused then left Lalji tied to the tree and went to Jasdan for some work. Their alleged confession stated, “When they returned to the spot, they found Lalji dead. So, they dumped his body near the lake.”
While police officers said Lalji suffered a lot of thrashing, his cause of death still remained shrouded in doubt.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Simran Bharadwaj told the Indian Express, “Since the body was in a deteriorated condition…we are still awaiting the post mortem report for cause of death. But three accused have been placed under arrest.”
Jebaliya, Bhojak and Gida were booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 103(1) (murder), 140(1) (abduction for a serious reason), 308(5) (extortion), and 3(5) (common intention), and placed under arrest. Further investigation is underway.
The three accused, arrested for murder, in police custody 
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