Five arrested for Gujarat NRI’s murder
Wednesday July 5 2006 00:00 IST
IANS
AHMEDABAD: Police here have arrested five men accused of killing US-based Gujarati NRI Pankaj Trivedi, apparently due to a dispute within a social organisation he was associated with.
Three of the accused are from Saurashtra - Mansinh Vadher from Junagadh district, Chandrasinh Jadeja from Rajkot and Bhupatsinh Jadeja from Jamnagar - while Hiteshsinh Chudasama and Daxesh Shah are from Ahmedabad.
Trivedi, a 43-year-old professional from Cincinnati, was closely associated with the Swadhyaya movement - inspired by the late Pandurang Shastri Athawale - and was involved in the legal battle between two factions of the movement, police said.
Deputy Commissioner Of Police P.K. Jha told reporters: “We had doubts about Chandrasinh Jadeja due to his criminal record and his association with the Swadhyaya movement. We traced him through his mobile phone and got the names of the others from him.”
Police said Trivedi died after was hit on the head with a baseball bat outside the Ellis Bridge Gymkhana in the upscale Law Garden neighbourhood June 15.
“Although they all switched off their mobile phones, somehow Chandrasinh’s phone got activated for 15 seconds near the spot just a few minutes after the murder,” he added.
Police arrested the five after a prolonged investigation, Jha said.
The phone call Chandrasinh received just after the murder was from Padadhri in Saurashtra, “hence the conspiracy could have been hatched in Saurashtra.”
Jha said the accused told the police that they had planned to kill Trivedi six months ago and were closely following his movements in Gujarat.
When asked about the possible involvement of Swadhyaya movement’s senior members, Jha said: “We are yet to interrogate them fully. We cannot say who is behind the murder right now.”
Trivedi, who was part of the Parivar since 1972, had claimed that millions of dollars, collected as overseas donations for rehabilitation of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake victims, were misused during the last five years.
Chandrasinh Jadeja, however, denied that he killed Trivedi. He blamed the media for its negative projection of the sect.
It is very hard to translate from Gujarati to English. We should look for English version and post the link. - Vijay Mehta