Rajkot: In less than seven hours , the detection of crime branch (DCB) sleuths cracked the sensational murder of a gold jewellery showroom salesman who was also robbed of 2.5kg ornaments worth Rs 1 crore on Saturday.A 52-year-old jeweller and his son, who have a showroom in Soni Bazaar, were arrested for the murder of 52-year-old salesman Vasant Zinzuwadia whose body was found near Aji Dam at around 6pm. Investigation revealed that the accused Bharat Lathigra and his son Sumit, owners of Shreeji Showroom, committed the crime to pay of Rs 1 crore dues that they owed to five traders in Soni Bazaar. Zinzuwadia was working for Aditya Elegance, one of the biggest gold jewellery showrooms located on Palace Road in Rajkot city.“The Lathigras had plotted the crime about a week ago and had decided to target Zinzuwadia for two reasons. First, they knew Zinzuwadia and that his firm was a big one that dealt with huge quantities of gold. Second and most importantly, they knew he would be carrying large quantity of gold as it was the auspicious day of Ashaadhi Beej,” said KK Jadeja, police sub-inspector, DCB who cracked the murder along with PSI RC Kanamiya.As per the conspiracy, Lathigra called up Zinzuwadia sometime between 12:30pm and 1pm and asked him to come to his showroom saying he had a couple of gold jewellery orders to meet. When Zinzuwadia went there, Lathigra asked him to park his scooter near his showroom and said they would go in his Innova car. Lathigra’s showroom is located just about 100 metre away from Aditya Elegance. Zinzuwadia agreed and both of them drove away in Lathigra’s car.According to the plan, Lathigra left his mobile with son Sumit at his shop. Lathigra then went near Canal Road and both of them even had tea at a restaurant there. After that, Lathigra took him to Pujara Plot and parked his car at one open space. Here, he asked Zinzuwadia to lend him his mobile phone saying that he had forgotten his own at the shop and that the numbers of the prospective customers were in that. From Zinzuwadia’s phone, Lathigra called up Sumit and told him that their plan was working out well and the salesman had the bag containing 2.5kg jewellery. Before Sumit reached there, Lathigra, sprayed some anaesthetic on Zinzuwadia’s face as a result of which the latter fell unconscious inside the car. He also threw Zinzuwadia’s mobile in a small canal near Pujara Plot.Sumit reached there and took charge of driving. Lathigra, who was sitting behind, had got a plastic rope with which he strangulated Zinzuwadia till he died. The duo then drove towards Aji Dam where they threw his body at an isolated place near Kishan Goshala from the moving car. After that, they dumped the empty boxes of looted jewellery in the bushes near the dam.

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