Rajkot: A farm labourer working in Kutch was arrested on Sunday for killing a 23-year-old man from Vadtal near Faradi village in Mandvi taluka on October 16. Meet Patel, who worked at a store in Swaminarayan Temple in Vadtal, was killed by Shankar Rathwa as the former had been threatening him over the phone.
Shankar’s son Hasmukh had fled with Patel’s fiancé Renuka which had irked Patel. Not being able to locate the couple, the deceased managed to get Shankar’s phone number and started making threat calls to him. Patel went to Haripura village in Mandvi taluka on October 16 on his bike when he found out that Shankar works there and asked him to meet him. On meeting, Shankar told him that he knows where Renuka and Hasmukh are and will take him to them. As they were going on Patel’s bike, Shankar, who was sitting pillion, slit Patel’s throat with a knife near Faradi village and left from there.
Patel’s body was found by locals but his identity was not known as he did not have any identity cards on him. Police could track down his brother Sagar in Vadodara based on the registration details of his bike found nearby. On Saturday, Sagar went to Mandvi and identified Patel.
“The mystery was what the deceased was doing so far in Mandvi so we checked his family details,” said inspector S J Rana of local crime branch.