Vadodara jeweller Sailesh Soni's assassin held

Vadodara, June 29 (UNI) A week after jeweller Sailesh Soni was brutally killed in his shop, police arrested his assassin, Rakesh Shah, as he returned to the city this evening by a bus from Rajkot.

The 25-year-old resident of Gaurav society in Panigate, Rakesh had slit Soni's throat in his Ghadiali Pole jewellery shop on June 23 after he failed to get back his 200 gms of gold ornaments which he had kept with the deceased as security in 2004 for a loan of Rs 50,000 at the rate of 2 per cent interest.

Soni succumbed to his injuries minutes after he was admitted to the SSG hospital. Jewellers in the walled city area observed a bandh on the following day demanding immediate arrest of the culprit, who had fled leaving his motorbike and the weapon of offence on the spot.

Acting on a tip-off that the accused was returning to Vadodara by a luxury bus from Rajkot, city police nabbed him as he got off from the vehicle near the Shashtri bridge this evening.

In his confessional statement recorded by the Wadi police, Rakesh said he decided to kill Soni when he tried to cheat him saying that he had already sold out his ornaments to his customers.

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