Karelibaug man’s body fished out from canal

Vadodara: A week after he was murdered, city police tracked down the body of 45-year-old Suraj Shah who had been missing since April 25. Shah’s body was fished out of a canal on Halol Road on Tuesday afternoon and taken for post-mortem. The cops began hunt for the body after the accused admitted to have committed Shah’s murder on Monday evening.

The police also on Tuesday produced all the three accused in a local court which remanded them in police custody for six days. Police told the court in the remand application that key accused Vijay Rohit had given Rs50,000 to the other two accused Shrikant Pawar and Mehul Mane for bumping off Shah. “We are yet to recover the money and the rope that the accused had used to strangulate Shah,” the police said.

The accused trio had fled to Mount Abu and then visited Madhya Pradesh after committing the crime. Shah had disappeared from the city on April 25 evening after he left his house. He had gone to meet Rohit who took him to Halol Road. The police said Shah had given Rs4.60 lakh to Rohit and the former had been asking for repayment.

Rohit, who is an advocate, didn’t want to return so much money so he hatched a plan to kill Shah. Rohit roped in Pawar and Mane by promising them Rs50,000. He then invited Shah for a liquor party and took him in a car to Halol Road. After Shah got drunk, Rohit and the other accused strangulated him to death. They then dumped his body in a canal on Halol Road.

The police said Rohit wasn’t cooperating during investigations and the other two accused were also not giving satisfactory replies.