Accused in double-murder case nabbed in Surat after 23 years

Surat Crime Branch reportedly arrested a man who had been absconding for 23 years in connection with a double murder case. 

The accused, identified as Nirupam Kansagara, 53, was caught from Surat on Saturday.

As per reports, in 2002, six people were accused of murdering two men — Salim Sheikh and Devshi Bharwad — in Gandhinagar’s Pethapur village. After committing the murders, the accused placed the bodies inside a car, doused it with petrol, and set it ablaze near Vavol and Uvarsad to destroy evidence. A case was registered under charges including murder, destruction of evidence, kidnapping, common intention, and criminal conspiracy. 

While five of the accused were arrested earlier and sentenced to life imprisonment, Kansagara had managed to evade the law.

Following the crime, Kansagara allegedly lived under fake identities, introducing himself as “Munnabhai Patel” while working as a generator operator and later running a generator rental business. He reportedly stayed at various locations, including Maharashtra, Chotila, Halol, and Bharuch, constantly shifting to avoid detection. 

Acting on specific technical and human intelligence inputs, the crime branch tracked him down to the Bharuch-Dahej area and arrested him.

The investigation revealed that the motive behind the double murder was a financial dispute of ₹1.4 lakh between one of the main accused, Jashu Patel (who died in 2009), and Salim Sheikh.

Kansagara has now been handed over to Pethapur police for further legal action.