City lawless, cops clueless as number of unsolved grisly crime cases pile up

The X files
February 4: Sangeeta, 7, was raped and murdered at Bapunagar
March 3: GEB contractor Narendra Parmar shot dead at Mithakali area under Navrangpura police station
March 18: New born baby kidnapped and later found dead at Shahibaugh
March 23: The Shahibaugh police recover a badly mutilated body of a girl from Dudeshwar crematorium under Shahibaugh
May 15: An elderly woman was killed in Ghatlodia

Summary report: Police investigations still on

These are just a summary of some of the incidents that had taken place in the city in the last few months.

If this bit of statistics has helped to unnerve you at the crime graph’s rising curve in our peaceful city, the fact that the criminals alleged to be involved in these gruesome acts of felony are still roaming scott-free, might send shivers down your spine, but not without a reason. They might be anywhere - from your friendly neighbourhood to the glitzy malls — unknown faces that are capable of putting up another such heinous act, thanks to the precious  little action taken by our police.

Despite city police’s claim of burning midnight oil in trying to smoke these criminals out, they are yet to make any breakthrough in these cases.

Among the list of crimes, the most high profile murder that had taken place in the city which shocked citizens to no end was the heinous rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl, Sangeeta, who went missing for days together till her body was later recovered from a toilet in a municipal school at Bapunagar on February 4. Forensic Science experts say that the rapist who raped the minor first dumped her body later in the school’s toilet.

So far, Bapunagar police have only succeeded in recording statements of more than 150 suspects and conducting DNA tests on six people — with no sight of nailing the culprit in the sensational rape and murder of Sangeeta. Inspector LP Gandhe of Bapunagar police station said, “Police have conducted DNA tests on six people, however, none of the samples matched.”  But police also blame their inability to catch the culprit on the non-cooperation of the victim’s family members who keep changing their needle of suspicion every time. However, as on today, police are still clueless about Sangeeta’s rapists.

In another incident an elderly woman was killed with the help of sharp-edged weapon at Gokul tenement on KK Nagar road. The victim, Tasmina Patel, was alone in her house at the time when the unsocial elements broke into her house and did her to death. The Ghatlodia police have interrogated several suspects while investigating in the murder case, but is yet to achieve any breakthrough. While the silent family members are relying on the police to solve the case, Ghatlodia police say that the house was frequented by many people connected to the victim’s husband, Bharat Patel. Patel was involved in animal husbandry business as well as other activities after his retirement which made him visit Naroda occasionally.  The people who visited his home had all information about Patel and his family, police say.

But, even in this case, police are still groping in the dark.

In yet another incident of its kind, Navrangpura police are still in the interrogation mode and have quizzed many people till now in connection with the murder of Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB) contractor, Narendra Jitendrasinh Parmar, on March 3. The victim was shot dead at point blank range by criminals near his office in Mithakali. 

Parmar, an ex-military official with 15 years of service in the army became a GEB contractor post-retirement.  Parmar, who was also carrying his licensed revolver, at the time of the incident, was caught unawares when he was about to get into his Scorpio when four-five criminals fired at him.

KG Saradva, Inspector, Navrangpura police station said, “Police have taken out printouts of his cellphone details and are questioning those people with whom Parmar had talked before he was killed.” Sarvada also said that police doubt business rivalry to be one of the probable reasons as Parmar who had received a GEB contract, had divulged it to his friends. The hunt is on...

Mystery shrouds Sola murder
Confusion reigns supreme among top police officials regarding solving the Sola murder case in which taxi driver, Ganesh Devda, was found murdered on May 14 when he was returning to Ahmedabad. While a senior police official claimed that police solved the case and also that the accused would be shown officially arrested on Monday, Sola police, however, denies it stating that the case is now lying with the city crime branch.

NR Chauhan, inspector at Sola police station said that they questioned many people and later handed the case over to the crime branch for further investigation. But talking to DNA, crime branch DCP, Abhay Chudasama, stated that there can be no question of solving the case when the crime branch is not investigating the case at all!

Police need citizens’ help
According to Brijesh Kumar Jha, DCP Zone I, police have in last few months detected some major cases including the murder case of Paldi physician, Dr Hitesh Shah and the Bhumika murder case of Maninagar. According to Jha, whenever police are able to get any clues on a particular case, they are able to solve it immediately. However, he lamented that many a times it has been found that police do not often get enough cooperation from the concerned family members and relatives, who either keep changing their needle of suspicion, or stay away for fear of the lengthy process of investigation. Jha, however, on an optimistic note added that city police will be able to solve these cases only if people cooperate with them.