Missing Karelibaug man murdered over loan dispute

Vadodara: A 45-year-old man, who was missing from Karelibaug since April 25, was found murdered and his body dumped in a canal on Halol Road on Monday.

Police arrested three persons including an advocate for kidnapping and murdering the victim Suraj Shah, who is into electricals business. However, his body is yet to be recovered.

Shah was killed on April 25, a day before his marriage anniversary police said.

Preliminary investigation suggested financial dispute could be the reason behind the murder.

According to the complaint filed by Shah’s wife, Shruti, he had given loan of Rs 4.60 lakh to Vijay Rohit, the advocate and prime accused in the crime. Shah was asking Rohit to return the money but the latter was only dilly-dallying. On April 25, Shah told his son that he was going to meet Rohit and that he would return within a couple of hours. When Shah didn’t return till late in the night, his family started searching for him.

Shruti’s relative had seen Shah sit in a vehicle and leave for Halol with some friends. Shruti approached the police the next day following which cops also began searching for him. “We got CCTV footages of the areas from where the car described by Shruti’s relative had passed. When we got registration number plate, we reached the car’s owner who told us that he had given the car to Rohit and other two persons,” said R I Jadeja, Karelibaug police inspector.

Police contacted Rohit and quizzed him about the car but he didn’t give satisfactory replies. They also questioned the other two accused Shrikant Pawar and Mehul Mane. “When we grilled them, they admitted to have killed Shah. Rohit had contracted Pawar and Mane to bump off Shah. Rohit met Mane near Sangam Crossroads and then took Shah to Halol Road,” Jadeja added.

They offered him liquor and when he got drunk, the accused strangulated him to death and dumped his body in a canal. Rohit told the cops that Shah had lent him money but he was demanding very high interest rate.

Shruti, who is an astrologer, had no inkling about her husband’s murder till Monday evening. Two days after he went missing, Shruti had even posted a poem conveying on April 28 that she is waiting for Suraj and wished him marriage anniversary on her Facebook account.