Gangster’s murder: Money dispute may be the trigger behind crime

SURAT: Police investigation in the murders of gangster Surya Marathi alias Suresh Pawar and his one time aide Hardik Patel on Thursday revealed that they had run into a dispute over sharing money.
Initially, the police started investigation based on the allegation by Patel’s wife that Marathi had molested her during Navratri when he came out of jail on parole. But now the police are exploring the financial dispute angle as well since both of their close aides indicate so.
Patel along with his six aides had barged into Marathi’s office on Ved Road on Wednesday at around 1.22 pm and had stabbed him to death. During the attack, Patel, too, was stabbed by Marathi in retaliation, and he collapsed while escaping around a kilometre away from the spot. Both died after they were shifted to hospitals.
Meanwhile, the police have rounded up two suspects believed to be involved in the murder. “Out of the seven attackers, Patel had died, while among the six, the police have nabbed two. Once their involvement is confirmed they will be arrested,” said a senior city police official.
The two suspects have been rounded up based on the CCTV footages and police are interrogating them to find out how the entire murder had been plotted. The police are also questioning them to trace locations of the other accused.
“Patel was operating the gang of Marathi when the latter was lodged in jail for the murder of Manu Dahya Baraiya in 2017. Patel had collected money from someone known to Marathi and over sharing that they had developed disputes after Marathi came out of jail recently,” said the official. Marathi and six co-accused were acquitted by a local court on February 5 in the Baraiya murder case.
Meanwhile, the police have registered two separate complaints in the murder of Marathi and Patel. Amol Jine, a relative of Marathi, lodged a complaint against Patel, Sahil Sindhi, Vicky, Satish Dhagde, Rahul alias Apartment and two others. Patel’s wife Nayna is the complainant in a separate complaint, and Marathi has been booked along with his unidentified associates.
To prevent a clash between associates of Marathi and Patel, the police got their postmortem conducted after a gap of over 12 hours, though they died almost at the same time on Wednesday. “This we did so the supporters of both the gangsters did not come face-to-face,” explained the official.
Marathi’s postmortem was done on Wednesday evening, while Patel’s postmortem was done on Thursday morning. The police also ensured that the last rights of both the deceased were performed at separate crematoriums. Marathi was cremated at Ashwini Kumar crematorium, while Patel’s last rights were performed at Jahangipura.