Staffer shoots dead limestone mine operator in Gir Somnath for ‘misbehaviour’, arrested

“Ram was an operating partner at a limestone mine and had hired Tapariya as a clerk to work in his office. Primary investigation has revealed that Ram used to mistreat Tapariya in office. Taking offence, Tapariya, who had already several criminal cases registered against him, including one of murder, shot Ram dead when the mine operator was alone in his office,” Gir Somnath Superintendent of Police Manoharsinh Jadeja told The Indian Express.

According to an FIR registered at Una police station, Ram dropped his wife Jashu, 31, and two children Vir, 8, and Hiral, 7, at his cousin Pitha Ram’s residence on a nearby agricultural farm for dinner on Saturday evening. He left saying he had to wind up some work related to the mine operations. When he didn’t join them for dinner, Jashu called her husband. In response, Ram informed his wife that Bhima Tapariya had come to settle accounts related to the mine and asked her to return home on her own.

The FIR, registered based on a complaint filed by Jashu, quoted her that when she was near their home, she heard a sound resembling the bursting of a firecracker, and saw Tapariya running away, holding a gun-like weapon in his hand. “When I rushed inside home, I found my husband lying on the floor and did not respond when I asked him what had happened,” she said, adding she later discovered that blood was oozing from the left side of her husband’s chest.
Ram was rushed to a hospital in Una where he was declared dead, police said.

Based on Jashu’s complaint, the Una police booked Tapariya for murder. On Sunday, Tapariya was picked up by the Local Crime Branch of Gir Somnath police from a village on the outskirts of Una town. “While scanning Ram’s mobile, we noted that he had made a call to Tapariya. We sent a police team to Gadhvi’s residence in Una but he was not found there. This reinforced our suspicion. Eventually, he was detained from a nearby village and arrested formally later on,” Jadeja said.

Jadeja said that around 10 cases were registered against Tapariya in the past. “They include cases of robbery and under the Arms Act in Porbandar, Jamnagar, and Kutch districts. He had also spent time in jail in connection with a case of murder in Fulka village in Gir Gadhada taluka of Gir Somnath in 1999. Primary investigation has revealed that Tapariya is a person with a very aggressive nature and, therefore, he could not tolerate the misbehaviour of Ram while he was working as a clerk,” he said.

Jadeja added the police also recovered a country-made pistol from Tapariya after detaining him. “The country-made pistol is an unlicensed firearm which a man from Junagadh had procured from Madhya Pradesh around one-and-a-half-year ago. That man had given the weapon to Tapariya for safekeeping. The Junagadh man demanded it back later on but Tapariya didn’t return it and used it to murder Ram,” said the SP, adding, “We are also taking action against the Junagadh man”.