Former VMC employee fails to pay debt, bludgeoned to death

VADODARA: Four days after they found body of a man in Sevasi, the Gotri police arrested five persons from different areas of the city.
The accused were arrested on Monday for conspiring and killing 38-year-old Harish Solanki, a resident of Navapura. The police said that the accused had planned to commit the crime well in advance.
The deceased and two of the accused have several cases registered against them in different police stations in the city.
According to the police, Solanki, a former VMC employee, was kidnapped on August 16 from Khanderao Market Crossroads and then taken to residence of Darshan Kadu in Juni Ghadi area.
"Solanki had taken Rs one lakh each from Manoj Rajput and Ravi Pilot but he didn't return the money on time. Both Rajput and Pilot had been threatening him and on August 15, the duo kidnapped him with the help of three others," said DCP (Zone II), Hitesh Joysar.
Solanki was taken to Garudeshwar and kept there at farmhouse of Girish Patel. He was thrashed there and then brought back to the city on August 17.
"He was then taken to an open field in the interiors of Sevasi village and again beaten up by two of accused Kalpesh Rohit and Pilot. Solanki suffered injuries on his head causing his death," Joysar told TOI. The accused then left his body at the spot and fled.
The police recovered Solanki's body on August 26 and scanned the missing persons report filed in the city to get some clues. One of the missing person's description matched with Solanki following which his family was contacted.
"Solanki's sister told us that she had got a call from a mobile phone wherein the caller claimed that Solanki was with him and demanded Rs one lakh. The cops immediately tracked the mobile phone number and picked up Manoj Rajput who revealed names of the other accused," Joysar added. While Rajput, Pilot, Bhavesh, Darshan and Kalpesh have been nabbed, Girish is yet to be tracked down.
"One of them claimed that it was an accident as they didn't intend to kill Solanki," the police said.
While Solanki had some cases of cheating filed against him, Pilot was accused in assault cases and Darshan was accused in loot and had been externed twice.