Jaipur Rural police have cracked the blind murder case of a local BJP leader within three days, arresting the accused in connection with the killing of Ramavatar Aswal alias Pappu in the Manoharpur area. The 55-year-old victim, a former mandal president of the BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha and a scrap dealer, was found dead in a pool of blood at his scrap godown near the Manoharpur bus stand on the night of 1 June. Police have arrested the accused Sohail Khan alias Sohail Kutubuddin Lohar for the crime.
According to police, the murder stemmed from a minor dispute over the price of an old cooler. Sohail Khan, aged 20 and son of Kutubuddin Luhar, a resident of Luhar Mandi in Manoharpur, visited the victim’s scrap godown on the evening of 1 June to purchase the cooler for keeping pigeons. An argument erupted over the price of the cooler. In the meantime, a friend of Aswal arrived at the shop, and the argument was stopped for around 15-20 minutes.
But when the friend left, the argument continued, which escalated when Sohail allegedly struck Ramavatar Aswal on the head with a heavy iron angle picked from the victim’s shop. When the victim fell to the ground, the accused further attacked him with a knife, inflicting multiple blows on his neck and hands, leading to his death.
When Aswal did not return home for several hours, concerned family members went to the warehouse and found him critically injured. He was rushed to NIMS Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Jaipur Rural Superintendent of Police Hanuman Prasad stated that the police registered a case based on the complaint filed by the victim’s brother, Gulab Aswal, on 2 June. Family members and locals had staged a dharna outside the Manoharpur police station, demanding swift action and the arrest of the culprit.
In a commendable effort, the police scrutinised footage from around 150 CCTV cameras in the area and its surroundings. A partial glimpse of the accused from a camera located 150-200 metres away helped investigators trace his movements. The accused was spotted in the market area, and his description matched information provided by the friend of the victim who had seen him at the shop minutes before the murder. Sohail was apprehended from a cloth shop in the Luhar Mohalla while he was purchasing new clothes, apparently preparing to flee the area.
Police said that the accused and the victim knew each other. Sohail is a welder, and he used to visit Ramavatar’s scrap shop to sell his leftover metal. Sohail’s family told the police that he is very aggressive in nature, and they hesitated to send him alone to anywhere because he used to pick up quarels with people.
During interrogation, the accused confessed to the crime. Police are now making efforts to recover the weapons used in the murder based on his disclosure. The swift resolution of the case has brought relief to the family and the local community, which had been agitated over the brutal killing of the prominent local figure.
