Absconding key suspect surrenders with precious ruby

Vadodara, Feb 9 (UNI) A day after city police recovered three decomposed bodies from Jodhpur village in Panchmahals district in the two-month-long sensational star ruby missing case, one of the absonding key suspects, Jyoti Shah, today surrendered before the Ahmedabad police with the ruby worth Rs 2.21 crore.

Vadodara assistant commissioner of police (ACP) T R Parmar said Jyoti, the third wife of prime accused Jayanti Pateliya in the triple murder case, has surrendered before the Sarkhej police station near Ahmedabad with the ruby and is being brought to Vadodara by a police team.

Meanwhile, a city court today remanded Pateliya, a primary school teacher in Panchmahals district, and one of his accomplices, Bharat Damor, to 13 days police remand. They were earlier arrested in connection with the brutal killing of three city-based youths -- Darshan and Mihir Thaker (both brothers) and one Balkrishna Patel -- for the ruby.

Police are still looking for Pateliya's four more accomplices, whom he hired only for Rs 20,000 to eliminate the three youths. The accused hired the foursome the day the trio and Pateliya set out for Jaipur on December 6, 2006, to get the ruby valued by gemstone experts.

After the four went missing, city police conducted search operation for two months at different places in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Finally, they nabbed Pateliya from Himmatnagar on February 6 by setting up a trap. Soon after another accused Bharat was nabbed from Panchmahals, their interrogation led to recovery of the three decomposed bodies from a jungle area in Jodhpur village yesterday.

Mr Parmar said as police began investigation on a massive scale, Jyoti disappeared from her Shehra residence. She would be thoroughly grilled before her arrest, he added.

The star ruby, reportedly belonging to a Rajkot-based gemstone dealer Samir Ismael Jagot, was given to the city-based Thaker brothers for valuation. But the duo included Patel and Pateliya in the team for a visit to Jaipur for its proper valuation after a Mumbai-based gemstone dealer put its value at Rs 2.21 crore.

Police, which today handed over the bodies to the bereaved families, said it would take some more time to completely resolve the mystery.

UNI