Ahmedabad: Nearly a month after a man’s death from serious injuries, the city crime branch has found that he had actually been murdered, and has arrested four suspects. After 23-year-old Jagram Patil‘s death, Sardarnagar police had registered a case of accidental death, despite details of his medico-legal case stating that he was grievously injured in an assault. The four arrested by a crime branch team on Thursday are Patil’s friends, who allegedly attacked him in a fallout over a financial dispute and sale of liquor in Sardarnagar.
They have been identified as Hasmukh Pahadiya, 32, a resident of Vishnu Park Society in Odhav; Nasir Hussain Sheikh, 53, from Shah-e-Alam Residency in Ramol; Durgesh Kushwaha 30, from Mahadev Nagar in Nava Vadaj; and Sunil Kori 35, from Santoshi Nagar in Kubernagar. Police said the four have confessed to attacking Patil near Madhusudan Complex, next to a meat shop in Sardarnagar with sticks and belts, Patil was seriously injured in the attack and later died during treatment at Civil Hospital, Asarwa.
Sardarnagar police termed it accidental death, but crime branch took over following instructions from senior officers to thoroughly investigate suspicious deaths and missing persons. During their investigation, officers found evidence that Patil, a resident of Vinzol village in Vatva and originally from Ramakheda village in Madhya Pradesh, had been assaulted. Police records show that all four accused have criminal histories, including cases of assault and prohibition. Some had been earlier detained under the Prevention of Anti-Social Elements Act. The four have been handed over to Sardarnagar police for further investigation.