Five persons were arrested on Monday for allegedly beating a farm labourer to death over suspicion of theft of mangoes worth Rs 50,000 from an orchard in Gujarat's Surat district, a police official said.
Suresh Verma (48) was brutally assaulted by the five accused, who then dumped his body in a canal on May 21, Bardoli Deputy Superintendent of Police HL Rathod said.
"Ashfak Rayan, Vinod Agrawal, Mohammed Umar, Dashrath Maurya and Yakub Abdul Gaffar have been arrested for murder. Ashfaq and others had taken a mango orchard on lease in Akoti village of Bardoli some time back and hired Verma and another villager as labourers. Recently, the accused grew suspicious that Verma had stolen mangoes worth Rs 50,000 from the farm and sold them in the market," Rathod told reporters.
"On the night of May 21, they tied Verma to a tree in the farm and thrashed him till he fell unconscious. Later, Ashfaq called Verma's wife on phone and demanded Rs 50,000 for the loss her husband had caused to them by stealing mangoes. On realizing Verma had died due to the beating, the accused transported the body in their car and dumped it in a canal in Kamrej taluka," he said.
When Verma did not return home, his family approached Bardoli police and lodged a missing person complaint and also told police about Ashfaq's demand of Rs 50,000, the Deputy SP informed.
"An unidentified body was recovered by Kamrej police from the canal. After Verma's family confirmed it was his, a murder case was registered on May 31, leading to the arrest of the five persons," Rathod said
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