Deadly chase ended in Surat man’s fatal crash, find police

After the congestion cleared, Patel moved ahead, but his car allegedly hit a motorbike which was being ridden by one Jigar Patel, who was part of the procession, police said.

Police acted after residents of Saroli village in Surat’s Olpad taluka took out a rally to the police station and handed memorandums to senior IPS officers demanding justice for Amish Patel and an FIR against the suspects. Express photo by Hanif Malek

A mob of men immediately fell on Amish’s car, allegedly vandalising it and smashing its windows. A panic-stricken Amish tried to speed away from the spot, but several of the men chased him on their bikes, police said.

“Unable to control the car and seeing the public chasing him, he collided with the wall near a bus stop at Ariyana village. He died on the spot,” police said.

Members of Amish’s family found him dead in the car. A case of accidental death was registered at Olpad police station.

However, while trying to escape the mob, Amish had managed to make a call to a friend, and tell him about the bikers who were chasing him. Sources said he had “expressed fear that they might kill him”.

Police checked footage from CCTV cameras along the route Amish had taken and found that the car was speeding. Evidence from the call Amish had made to his friend, along with videos made by people on their mobile phones, and the accounts of witnesses allowed investigators to reconstruct the details of the deadly chase.

Meanwhile, the family and friends of Amish took out a protest rally to Olpad police station and demanded that the accused be identified and an FIR be registered against them.

On September 18, the villagers of Saroli sat on dharna outside the police station, and gave a memorandum to Inspector General of Police (Surat Range) Prem Vir Singh, Superintendent of Police Rajesh Gadhiya, and the Olpad Mamlatdar.

“We were not satisfied with the action taken by police. We wanted strict BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023) sections so that in future nobody dares to commit such a crime,” Nalin Patel, Amish’s younger brother, said.

Nalin alleged that “from day one”, the family had requested Olpad Police Inspector C R Jadav to take stern action against the accused. “We suspect that there may be some political pressure on him for not taking stringent action against the accused,” he said.

Police checked footage from CCTV cameras along the route Amish had taken and found that the car was speeding. Express photo by Hanif Malek

Police Inspector Jadav said: “We have registered cases of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rioting and other actions against the accused. We checked CCTV footage from various areas and found that a minor issue had escalated. Amish had sped away from the spot after seeing the public banging on his car.”

Jadav said Amish runs a transport business in Surat city, and was on his way home after meeting a friend. “We have arrested seven people whom we identified through CCTV footage and mobile phone recordings,” the officer said.

The arrested persons include Jigar Patel, the man whose bike Amish’s car had hit, and which led to the events that ended in the tragedy. The other accused are Neel Patel, Divyesh Patel, Paresh Patel, Jashwant Patel, Shirish Patel, and Paresh Patel, all of whom are residents of Pinjrat and Dihen villages in Olpad taluka.