Vadodara: 21-year-old Dalit orphan kidnapped, murdered

PALANPUR: Elopement of a young boy and girl from a village in

Banaskantha

district resulted in brutal murder of a 21-year-old dalit man, who was known to the couple, near Vadodara on August 15.
The victim Kiran Parmar, a native of Dalvana village, was an orphan and working as a waiter in a hotel in Surat. Police arrested all 14 persons involved in the crime.

Few days ago,

Varvadiya

village native Kanu Parmar had fled with a 17-year-old cousin sister. The girl's family and other villagers suspected that Kiran knew about their whereabouts as they were in touch with him after eloping.

On August 14, Varvadiya residents got to know that Kiran was to board the Palanpur-Surat bus from Pilucha village and decided to intercept and thrash him to get information about the couple. At around 10:30 pm, eight of them hired a Tavera car and started following the bus in which Kiran was travelling. On way, one of the eight persons, Amumiyan Lohani, called up his friend Nayan Rabari, who owns a hotel on the Vadodara-Surat highway and told him about the elopement. He asked Rabari stop the bus and catch hold of Kiran who was en route to Surat. Nayan Rabari had become friends with Lohani through Facebook and recently attended the latter's marriage three months ago. Lohani told him about the elopement of the couple but Rabari somehow assumed that a girl who fled was from his own community . He and five others kidnapped Kiran when the bus stopped near Makarpura bus stand and took him to his hotel where they thrashed him. They also made a video of the crime,“ said Neeraj Badgujar, superintendent of police, Banaskantha.

In the meantime, the eight persons who were following the bus also reached Rabari's hotel and Kiran was handed over to them. They also thrashed him there. “Ultimately , Kiran told them that the couple was in Ambaji. They were taking him back to Varvadiya but Kiran died on way to severe head injuries. The post-mortem has revealed cerebral haemorrhage,“ said Badgujar.

Kiran was in touch with the couple who had purchased a new SIM card after eloping from the village. Following a complained lodged Kiran's relatives, the police arrested Ramesh Parmar, Talshi Parmar, Babu Parmar, Ishwar Parmar, Ashok Parmar, Ramesh Parmar, Vira Parmar and Ramesh Dharma Parmar, all residents of Varvadiya village on August 16. “We got vital clues from the video that was being circulated,“ said Badgujar. On Friday , police arrested Nayan Rabari and his accomplices Vijay Padhiyar, a resident of Vadodara, Vishnu Rabari and Mukesh Rabari, Umang Rabari and

Vishwas Rabari

, all residents of Ahmedabad.

Nayan Rabari has a criminal history and several cases have been lodged against him.