Representative image of arrest.
Credit: iStock Photo
Ahmedabad: The Banaskantha police have arrested four persons in connection with the brutal murder of an elderly couple in north Gujarat's Banaskantha district in what is suspected to have emerged as a case of "ritual killings."
Police said that the suspects killed the couple to rob them of their jewelry for a belief that "taking ornaments after killing would bring wealth."
Police have arrested four persons including a father-son duo identified as Shamla Patel and Suresh Patel- for murdering Vardhaji Motiji Patel and his wife Hoshiben at their homes on June 15 night at their home in Jasra village under Agathala police station.
The accused father-son are the neighbours of the victims. On the night of the crime, police said that one of the accused Umabhai Patel, who happens to be the maternal uncle of the main accused, Suresh, helped in the crime by keeping the tractor thresher running during the crime, to make sure that no sound was heard during the crime.
Suresh and his father Shamla bhai entered the house and killed the elderly couple with a sharp object. In a press note, the police have said that when the accused couldn't take out the anklets, they hacked the woman's feet. They also decamped with her earrings and nose rings.
The victims of the superstitious crime were parents of a police inspector who is posted in Gandhinagar. Police have arrested Shamla, Suresh, his maternal uncle Umabhai Patel and Dilip Thakor from Rampura village, the alleged witchdoctor who gave the idea of the sacrificial killings.
Initially, police thought it was a case involving gangs which target vulnerable elderly couples. Police scanned more than 80 CCTV footage and grilled 300 people including labourers to find any clue. The police had launched a massive manhunt to catch the offenders.
They said that based on surveillance and human intelligence, they found out that the couple's neighbours were the perpetrators. Police said that Suresh and his father Shamlabhai had plotted the crime in order to take Suresh out of mounting debts. The witchdoctor allegedly advised bringing jewelry after sacrificial murder would bring them wealth.