Police said that alias Anil Bharwad and Dilip Bharwad, both 18 years old, had planned to kill Prajapati after a quarrel with him on November 30.
Senior Police Sub-Inspector JD Sarvaiyya said, “Prajapati had a quarrel with Anil on November 30, which had turned ugly as both the sides hurled abuses at each other. Anil had decided to avenge the insult by killing Prajapati. He had told his co-accused that he would kill Prajapati to teach him a lesson. It was a pre-meditated murder where they planned to take the deceased on a drive and kill him.”
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Sarvaiyya said the accused had picked up Prajapati from his house at Waghodia Road on December 2 evening on the pretext of attending a wedding. “They used a hatchback car without a number plate to avoid getting detected on CCTV cameras to Vasad. Anil sat on the backseat of the car with Prajapati and once they had reached a secluded area, he pulled Prajapati towards him and slashed his neck multiple times. In a fit of rage, he also stabbed him multiple times on his chest and stomach. The trio then turned towards Dena village from the Dena junction and threw the body in some bushes on a deserted road,” Sarvaiyya said. He added the victim had befriended the accused through common friends recently.
The police tracked down the accused based on the complaint filed by Prajapati’s parents on Thursday, in which they also mentioned that the accused had asked the boy to bring along a gold chain and “dress up well” for the wedding they were attending.
On Friday evening, Vadodara taluka police station officials apprehended the three accused, of whom one was found to be a minor. The police have arrested Anil and Dilip and begun the process of sending the juvenile to a remand home.
“The gold chain was just a bonus. The actual plan was to kill the victim for revenge. The two adults are school dropouts and did not clear their SSC examinations two years ago,” Sarvaiyya said. The accused will be sent for a Covid-19 test after which their arrest will be formalised, police said.
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