Bihar migrant’s lynching: Surat cops claim he was not killed over theft suspicion

SURAT: In a new twist to the murder of a 30-year-old Bihar migrant last week, investigators now say that the victim was not lynched over suspicion of theft, as alleged by his friend, but the duo became a victim of animosity between two warring groups in Pandesara.
On Wednesday, Pandesara police on Wednesday arrested five persons who were named the deceased Sangam Pandit’s friend Sujit Singh in the complaint. Those arrested were Pratik Patel, Mehul Lad, Vishal Singh, Dipesh Patel and Yogesh Patel, all residents of Bhairavnagar.
Pratik is the driver of Congress councillor from Vadod, Satish Patel, who, as alleged by Singh, was also present at the spot when the incident happened during early hours of May 31 night.
However, police said that Satish’s role was not found during investigation, but few more persons, including four, who have been identified, will be arrested soon.
Assistant commissioner of police, Jay Pandya, told TOI, “Our preliminary investigation has revealed that Pandit and Sujit were associates of a man named Chanchal, who was the aide of Vikas alias Vicky. There was a bitter fight between Vicky and Pratik on May 29 and May 30.”
Pandit and Sujit were reportedly among some persons, who were planning to attack Pratik and his group. On May 31 at around 2am, the duo’s bike slipped near Bhairavnagar and they fell down after which Pratik and others attacked and thrashed them. Pandit died in SMIMER hospital at around 4:30am.
On Wednesday, police also booked Vicky, Chanchal and few other unidentified persons for rioting and unlawful assembly following a separate complaint lodged by Dharmesh Parekh, the personal assistant to the Congress councillor.
“We are yet to find out the exact reason behind the fight between the groups,” said Vidhi Chaudhary, deputy commissioner of police, zone III.