Land broker murdered outside court in Surat

A land broker was killed in broad daylight by an unidentified person in front of the court building here on Thursday. A big knife was plunged into victim's neck which resulted in his instant death.

Cops arrested one of the culprits within hours.

Amit Kapasiwala, 40, a resident of Khandwala Estate in Ghod Dod Road, had gone for some work to a local court at 11:30 am on Thursday. While he was walking back towards his car after completing his work, an unidentified person rushed towards him, took out a Rambo knife and stabbed it in his stomach. He also inflicted injuries on his neck.

Kapasiwala fell to the ground owing to the severity of the attack. He was bleeding profusely as the life oozed out of him.

The attacker's associate rushed to the spot on a motorcycle and the duo fled the scene immediately. Local people informed the police, who hurried to the spot and started investigations into the case.

While cops were conducting their investigation, they received information that a person was moving around suspiciously near Jamuna Nagar bus stand in Ghod Dod road.

A team rushed to the spot and arrested one Deepak Makwana, a resident of Bhavnagar. During interrogation, he confessed to having killed Kapasiwala. He told police that he was offered `1 lakh for killing him, adding that `50,000 had already been paid.

Preliminary investigations reveal that Kapasiwala was embroiled in a land dispute at Gavier near Dumas for a long time. The dispute was related to ownership of land at survey No. 262 & 192 at Gavier.

Sources said that ten days back, Kapasiwala lodged a complaint at Umra police station, after 10-12 persons had tried to enter into the land at survey No. 262. He told cops that he received threatening calls to remove his claim from the land.

“We have initiated a process to trace the mastermind behind the incident. At present, we are taking the statement of Deepak Makwana, based on which the investigations will proceed. We are also checking the history of Kapasiwala,” MR Parmar, Umra police inspector said.