After 23 years on the run, the city crime branch arrested Nirupam Kansagara, 53, the last remaining accused in a brutal double murder case from 2002. He was arrested on Saturday in Surat, Gujarat.
The case dates back to a gruesome incident in Pethapur village, Gandhinagar, where two men — Salim Sheikh and Devshi Bharwad — were murdered by six men. The victims were kidnapped, murdered, and then placed in their own car, which was doused in petrol and set ablaze near Vavol and Uvarsad to destroy evidence.
Police had previously arrested five of the accused, four of whom were sentenced to life imprisonment, while the main accused Jashu Patel died in 2009. Kansagara was the only one who remained absconding.
To avoid arrest, Kansagara assumed fake identities, including the alias “Munnabhai Patel.” He moved across states — starting in Maharashtra, then to Chotila, Halol, and eventually Bharuch, where he ran a generator rental business.
The breakthrough came after the crime branch traced him through technical surveillance and local intelligence. He was finally apprehended from the Bharuch-Dahej region and handed over to Pethapur police for further legal proceedings.
The original case was filed under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 365 (kidnapping), 34 (common intention), and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. The motive behind the murders was a financial dispute involving ₹1.40 lakh between Jashu Patel and Salim Sheikh.
