Driver, 6 aide held in bullion merchant murder case

Bhandara: Bhandara police on Friday nabbed the driver and his six accomplices for murdering bullion merchant Sanjay Soni, his wife Poonam and son Durmil at his home in Tumsar before fleeing with valuables worth Rs5crore on Wednesday night. All the accused have confessed to the crime and revealed the entire modus operandi to the police.
Nagpur crime branch and Tumsar police conducted a joint operation in Tajabagh area to nab Sohail Khan, a key conspirator.The police are yet to ascertain the identity of others.
Police said during interrogation the driver, whom Soni had hired on a daily basis, told them the location of his accomplices. The kingpin identified as Kesari had left for Mumbai by plane. A police team nabbed him in Mumbai. Others were taken into custody from Ramtek and Tumsar, most of the accused are residents of Mata Ward Tumsar.
SP Kailas Kanse, who investigated the case, said Soni used to frequently visit his customers in Balghat, Gondia, Amgaon, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Umred, Shivani, Wardha, Badnera and Amravati. Generally, Soni travelled in his own car. He had a permanent driver. Whenever his regular driver was on leave, Soni would hire another driver on daily wages. The temporary driver had worked with Soni on four-five earlier occasions.
Police said when this driver learnt about Soni's profession and valuables at home, he contacted his Nagpur-based friend. They hatched a conspiracy and waited for Soni's next call.
On February 25, Soni called him up and asked him to come on the next day since he had to visit Gondia and Amgaon in the morning.
Meanwhile, the driver informed his accomplices about Soni's business trip. On their way back while leaving Gondia for Tumasar, the driver asked his accomplices to wait at Virsi diversion near Tiroda. His accomplices came to Virsi, purchased a nylon rope and other material and awaits for Soni's car to pass.
Kanse said as soon as the car turned towards Tumsar, the accused started following it on their bikes. The driver stopped the car near village Vihirgaon on the pretext of answering nature's call and went to nearby agriculture field.
Amid this, the driver's accomplices came and entered the car forcibly. They strangled Soni with the nylon rope. Soni died in the car, police said. The dacoits left their bikes near government hospital and took Soni's body in the car to the deceased's home. On hearing the car's sound, Durmil came down and opened the gate. But the dacoits caught him and took him inside. They told Poonam to bring water as Durmil had become unconscious.
As she went inside, the dacoits followed her. When Poonam came to know about their plan she asked them to spare her and Durmil in return for all valuables. But the driver told his accomplices that she knew him and thus they strangled the mother-son duo with the rope
Later, they took kept Soni's body in his bedroom and looted the valuables from his room before fleeing. They distributed valuables among them and went in different directions.