Surat: In a joint operation, sleuths of the Surat detection of crime branch (DCB) and Tapi district local crime branch (LCB) apprehended eight persons in the Satish Maratha murder case. Four of them are minors. Maratha was killed on Wednesday afternoon when he was with a woman friend near Saraswati Awas in Bhestan. Police say they have found that three others played a role in the killing, including one from Lajpore jail.Surat police commissioner Wabang Jamir said : “After the murder of Satish Maratha with bladed weapons and firearms, the accused headed towards Maharashtra. Before they crossed the border, we have the exit points at Valsad, Vapi, Vyara and Songadh sealed. Surat DCB and Bhestan police teams were on the trail and an intensive vehicle checking operation was launched. Personnel of the DCB and Tapi LCB apprehended eight suspects on the Surat-Dhule highway near Uchhchhal. These included four minor boys.”The adults arrested are Ketan Sirsath (19), Rahul Dubey (20), Ajit Goswami (26) and Karan Dubey (20). Investigators say Rahul Mandal, who is in Lajpore jail at present, was found to have been involved, along with Rahul Kapure and a person named Rinku. Police seized two countrymade pistols with magazines, one countrymade revolver, empty magazines and three mopeds from accused.Boy was used to draw Satish out of carMaratha’s murder was planned for months. On Wednesday, when he was sitting with a woman friend in his car at 4pm, one boy broke the driver’s side glass. As Maratha got out of the car, the other accused who were at the spot with armed with a koyta (sugarcane machete), axe, sword and firearms started attacking him. When Maratha tried to run, firearms were used to restrain him. After he fell to the ground, he repeatedly struck with the bladed weapons.Old grudges were behind the murderMaratha was a history-sheeter with four FIRs against him, of which three related to murder and one was for an attempted murder. He was also one of the accused in the sensational Surya Marathi murder case, in which all of the accused were acquitted last year.The accused persons in this case had earlier allegedly attacked Maratha’s aide, Ganesh Khutiya, for which they had gone to jail. In jail, they met Rahul Mandal, who was also an enemy of Maratha’s. He allegedly promised to help the accused kill Maratha. One of the accused, Ajit Goswami, had been attacked by Maratha in past as had the brother-in-law of one accused minor. The accused feared that they would be attacked or killed by Ganesh Khutiya and Maratha, and decided to eliminate Maratha. They allegedly scouted out Maratha’s activities for many days before the killing.
