Trader shot on Surat outskirts

In an incident of firing by some unidentified people near Kadodara on the outskirts of the city on late Saturday night, a person was killed.

According to sources, Thansinh Rajput, 30, a resident of Taathi-Thaiya village, sustained severe injuries when three unidentified persons fired bullets upon him at his shop. Rajput was taken to a nearby hospital, but was declared dead on arrival. Initially, the Surat rural police were clueless but later arrested three people including a minor boy from Vareli in the case.

The three were identified as Rajesh Varma, Ranjeet Patel and Lavnesh Varma, all residents of Bharwad ni chawl in Vareli. Lavnesh is nephew of Rajesh. Cops also recovered two country-made pistols and live bullets from them. During interrogation, the trio confessed of having murdered Rajput on Saturday and two labourers in Antroli village last week. Their involvement with criminals such as Raju Chikna and Govind Pandit was also uncovered.

Keshrichand Bhatti, DSP of Surat rural police said, “Arresting Raju and Govind has become difficult as everyday they change their hideouts. While they have become professional criminals the police department has no records regarding them. Rajput and two other labourers were murdered over trivial quarrels. The trio along with Govind and Raju don’t have any specific motto and commit crimes for looting and snatching valuable items,” Bhatti added.

Surat rural police have intensified search for Govind and Raju and created special teams to trace them. If both are arrested, then many more cases can be solved. At present, cops are tracing their mobile numbers to detect their hideouts.