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Journalism of Courage
SURAT, July 21: A city police team has been sent to Mumbai on the trail of a gang suspected to be responsible for the murder and loot of a diamond merchant in the Rughnathpura area of the city on Monday night. Reports said diamond merchant Vasantbhai Patel had just closed his Raghunathpura diamond workshop for the day on Monday night when he was stopped by four unidentified persons, who stabbed and looted him of Rs 25,000 worth of diamonds before escaping. Patel succumbed to his injuries before being rushed to the nearby Ashaktashram hospital.
An angry delegation of the Surat Diamond Association called on Police Commissioner Maniram on Tuesday to complain about the deteriorating law and order situation and demand the arrest of those involved in last night’s murder.
Assuring them the case would be solved soon, Maniram said them, “We have information that this is the work of a particular gang. We have names, but they cannot be made public now for obvious reasons.”
He said they would set up a police point at Hira Bazaar in Mahidharpura and intensify patrolling across the city.
Led by SDA president Ramji Shamji Patel, the delegation submitted a memorandum to the police commissioner in protest against attacks on diamond merchants. Former president Jivraj Dharukawala and vice-president Nanubhai Patel were among those who called on the commissioner.
Claiming that the rise in the number of attacks on merchants was causing the trade to panic, the memorandum demanded that police patrolling be intensified in the entire city to create a sense of security among merchants. Persons involved in various attacks should be arrested and severely punished to prevent similar incidents in the future, it said.
Municipal Councillor Jayprakash Shah submitted another memorandum threatening an agitation if the police failed to arrest Patel’s killers.
Interestingly, Dharukawala, who was recently vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s state apparatus, and a handful of councillors of the BJP-ruled Surat Municipal Corporation had to come down heavily against their own party. Besides Shah, the delegation included councillors Kalpanaben Modi and Ramanbhai Parmar. Dharukawala sought to know from the commissioner the steps taken in response to such representations in the past. None of the police officials, however, could provide any information to the delegation. He said merchants would be forced to take to the streets if the attacks continued.
The delegation sought the posting of competent officials in the Mahidharpura Police Station, under whose jurisdiction many such crimes have occurred. The commissioner said he to do his best to post competent police officials to the police station concerned.
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