A casual labourer was stabbed to death by an alleged bootlegger and his three accomplices inside the trauma care centre of government-run GG Hospital in Jamnagar city in the early hours of Thursday.
The police said the incident took place at around 12.30 am on Thursday when the victim, identified as Dharmarajsinh alias Bhuro Zala, 32, was undergoing treatment.
According to the FIR, Jaypalsinh Chudasama, a local bootlegger and a neighbour of Zala, came to the trauma care centre with his friends Urmil alias Umo Rathod, Pranavdipsinh alias Pancho Vaghela and Akshayrajsinh Parmar. Chudasama stabbed Zala with a knife after Vaghela grabbed the victim and overpowered him.
This was the second assault on the victim by the accused within an hour, the police said. Zala was given treatment in the trauma care centre but succumbed to his injuries.
Accused on the run
Based on Jadeja’s complaint, the police have booked Chudasama, Rathod, Vaghela and Parmar under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 114 (abetter present when offence is committed). The accused are on the run and efforts are on to nab them, police sources said.
The FIR, lodged on the basis of a complaint filed by Zala’s friend Sukhdevsinh Jadeja, states that Chudasama hit Zala on the head with an iron rod near the gate of the police headquarters on Saru Section Road of Jamnagar city at around 11.30 pm on Wednesday. After that assault, Ravirajsinh Parmar, another friend of Zala, rushed the victim to the trauma care centre of GG Hospital. Zala called Jadeja and informed him that Chudasama had assaulted him and asked Jadeja to meet him at the hospital.
The motive for the murder is that Chudasama sells liquor and every time he would be caught by the police, he would suspect that Zala had tipped off the police. Around one-and-a-half months ago, Chudasama had gone to Zala’s residence and they had a quarrel. Since then they have been on bad terms, the FIR says quoting Jadeja.
Zala and Chudasama had apparently been friends since childhood and also neighbours. The police said Zala had been undergoing treatment for a mental illness for the past eight months. Chudasama used to tease Zala about this. This led to a scuffle which took a violent turn.
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