Nine accused in Md Vora murder case surrender before PCB

Vadodara, May 25 (UNI) After remaining underground for 22 days, nine of the 14 accused in the sensational murder case of Mohammad Rafiq Vora, today surrendered before the city Prevention of Crime Branch (PCB) police.

Thirty-year-old Vora was brutally stabbed and burnt alive in his car by an irate mob at Ajwa Road during the recent communal violence in the city on May two, a day after a dargah was razed in the sensitive Fatehpura area by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) for encroaching the road.

Police who were looking for the 14 accused in the case on the basis of a complaint filed the deceased's brother Haji Vora, had arrested only one Nilkanth Garagewala, while others managed to escape.

PCB inspector Kaushik Pandya said the nine accused, most of whom belonged to the Riddhi Siddhi society on the Ajwa Road, would be produced before a local court tomorrow for police remand. Four more accused in the case are still absconding.

The murder of Vora and over two-hour-long violence in the area on the fateful night had rocked the whole nation and the Gujarat government was forced to call the Army as violence continued unabated despite the imposition of curfew in the six police station areas on the very first day.

After Garagewala's arrest, the local residents of Riddhi Siddhi society took strong exception to his arrest and demanded a CBI probe into the Vora murder case. They also sat on a fast-unto-death alleging that the 14 accused booked in the case were implicated on the ''false statement'' of Haji Vora.

UNI SS SSS YA RAI2251