Day after Congress leader’s murder in Anand, accused tracked down to Ahmedabad

Faisal, who grew up in Bakrol with his family, had been harbouring vengeance even since the externment, police said.

Police said that along with Ayan, prime accused Faisal had arrived at the scene of crime with a butcher’s knife and a concealed sword stick. Unnoticed by locals, the duo had conducted a recce of the lake periphery on two occasions earlier, police said.

Ayan is an orphan whom Faisal had allegedly befriended and groomed as an accomplice to help him exact his revenge, police said.
Inspector Dhruvrajsinh Gohil of Vidyanagar police station, who is also the investigating officer in the case, told The Indian Express: “As planned, Faisal first hacked Malek on the stomach with the butcher’s knife and then pushed him to the ground and attacked him in his neck, killing him on the spot… He had been spiteful since the time his family was ostracised in the village and forced to return to their native village of Sureli (in Anand district) after he was accused in the molestation case.”

How the case was cracked

With no CCTV at the crime scene and an absence of eyewitnesses, the police relied on other cameras in the vicinity to track the movement of people near the lake. With the help of their sources, police narrowed down on Faisal and Ayan, who had been spotted in the footage. Gohil said, “Since the crime scene had no direct CCTV cameras, we scanned about 100 cameras around the entry and exit way of the village as well as those leading to the lake. We also learnt from our sources that the deceased had previously been involved in an unpleasant situation with the accused…”
With the accused identified, the next task on the police’s hands was to track them down. With the help of Ahmedabad city police, Faisal was traced to a private hospital, where he had received treatment for his injured hands. Gohil said, “During the struggle, while hacking Malik, Faisal also sustained injuries on his hands. Three digits on one of his hands have been partially severed. The Ahmedabad city police had nabbed the accused at a city hospital late on Tuesday evening and we took him in custody…”

Gohil said that while the co-accused was arrested on Wednesday, prime accused Faisal was brought back to Anand where he was admitted to a hospital for treatment under police watch. Gohil said, “Faisal has been admitted to the Shree Krishna Hospital in Karamsad for surgery and treatment. We will be able to arrest him only when he is discharged from the hospital.”

Both accused have been booked for murder.