- Bhargaw Parikh
- For BBC Gujarati
image source, Getty Images
A shocking incident has come to light in Mehsana, Gujarat. A teenager named Yogesh Patel has confessed to the police that he killed his stepfather and his half brother following the same pattern two and a half years apart.
Siddappa’s murder case went unsolved for two-and-a-half years, and he also killed his half-brother. But the police arrested him through the mini lorry used for the murder.
“We had a gift shop. I worked in it day and night. But my stepfather accused me of stealing. He ostracized me from the society so as not to give me share,” accused Yogesh Patel said during police interrogation.
“Two and a half years ago I killed my stepfather in revenge and gave it the appearance of an accident. I had my stepfather’s son killed the same way because I was not caught.”
Like the story of a thriller film, this incident may startle everyone. Accused Yogesh showed no pain or remorse while giving this statement. Yogesh, who lives in a bungalow-like house on Nani Kadi Road in Mehsana, said he did the right thing.
The BBC spoke to people involved in the incident to find out the reasons behind the horrific incident.
Cause of murder
image source, SANKET SIDANA
Jadhavji Patel was killed two and a half years ago
BBC Gujarati spoke to Yogesh Patel and police officers in police custody to understand the incident and its causes.
“We had one property in common. Along with Siddappa Jadavji Patel, we sold some land and started a gift shop in Kadi. The shop was doing well. In 2017, my Siddappa retired. Siddappa’s son Vijay joined the shop. We had a shop in Chandram Complex. Vijay N was accused of stealing from the shop. After that my stepfather fired me,” said Yogesh Patel, who was in police custody.
Describing the bitter relationship with his stepfather and his son, Yogesh Patel said, “I asked for my share. But they didn’t pay according to the price of the shop and their status. They socially ostracized me because they had more money. I got angry.”
Yogesh Patel says he started the shop with his stepfather. Its market value increased to around one crore rupees. Instead of Yogesh’s share of 60 lakhs, they talked about giving only 5 lakh rupees. Later Yogesh’s family was also ostracized from the community.
Admitting that he killed Siddappa due to this anger, Yogesh said, “My Siddappa Jadavji used to go for a walk near the canal every evening. I killed him in an accident with a mini truck two and a half years ago in 2020. There was no evidence of the incident. A case of accidental death was registered against the unknown driver. The case was later closed. ,” He said that.
How did the police get the clue?
image source, SANKET SIDANA
Vijay Patel is the half brother of accused Yogesh Patel.
Yogesh felt brave because he was not caught even after Siddappa’s murder.
“Then my half-brother Vijay tried hard to collect evidence against me. But nothing was found. Vijay also did not give my share. So I planned to kill him with a mini-lorry just like he killed my stepfather on January 24. But this time I was caught,” says Yogesh.
Asked how the police traced the accused in the matter and how the matter came to their notice, Deputy SP R.I. Mehsana asked. Desai replied.
“A few days ago, an unidentified vehicle hit a young man who was going home on a motorbike after closing a gift shop in Kadi at night near Naikadi. Vijay Patel died on the way to the hospital,” he said.
“Initially we registered a case of accidental death. However, his family said that two members of the family had died in a similar accident in a short span of time. They said it was not an accident, it was murder,” he said.
“We started technical surveillance. After investigation, we arrested three people from small villages of Banaskantha and deceased Vijay’s half-brother Yogesh. Yogesh had arranged the killing by paying Rs 5 lakh,” Desai said.
What is the police strategy?
image source, SANKET SIDANA
MEHSANA Deputy SP R.I. Desai
“When the family raised the suspicion of murder, we accelerated the investigation in that direction. We also realized that this was no ordinary accident from the way the motorcycle was lying at the spot,” said Katina police inspector N.K. R. Patel said.
“Immediately we sought the help of the forensic team. We found that the vehicle had hit the motorcyclist in such a way that the rider would have suffered a serious head injury if he fell down. We immediately checked the CCTV footage of the area. We found a mini truck in it. It had no number plate. We suspected the mini truck. “
“Finding a mini truck without a number plate was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Because a lot of mini trucks from different states pass through Katina market every day. We carefully looked at the color of the truck. We also saw pictures with two names Ansh and Jayesh on its back, from which the owner of the truck was from Gujarat. We decided to join.”
“The name Jayesh is very common in Gujarat. We noticed that flowers and branches were painted on the trucks and ‘speed’ and ‘kilometer’ writing in English were more prevalent mainly on trucks from Banaskantha. Mini trucks from Telgar area of Chatlasan had more chance of this type of writing. So We sent people to find painters in and around Telgar who would paint the vehicles.”
“Since the village is small, we quickly tracked down the painter who painted on this mini truck. Through him, we traced the owner of the truck. On the day of the accident, the truck owner said he had given the truck to Yogesh Patel of Kadi on rent of Rs 1,500 per day,” Inspector Patel said.
Delay due to lack of CCTV
After this, the location of Yogesh’s phone was found to be Mari village and during those days it was found that he was in constant touch with Rajdeep Singh and Rajuba Jhala from Mari village and nearby Datna village. On the one hand, we tracked Yogesh Patel. On the other hand, when we caught up with Rajdeep Singh and Rajuba, they confessed that they had been paid five lakh rupees to kill the red motorcyclist that night.
Describing how the police reached Yogesh Patel based on evidence, Inspector Patel said, “Based on this evidence, we arrested Yogesh. We interrogated all of them face to face. Those involved confessed to the crime.”
“Yokesh, who put a sticker on his lorry’s number plate, killed his stepfather near the canal but was not caught for two-and-a-half years due to lack of CCTV near the canal. He used the same trick to kill his half-brother. But this time he could not fool the police,” he said.
image source, SANKET SIDANA
Katina Police Inspector RN Patel
“My husband Vijay is a good driver. So there is no chance of an accident. My husband tried hard to find evidence related to the murder of my father-in-law. But no one could see the number plate of the truck. So the case was not proved. But when I saw the way my husband died in the accident, I also thought that someone had killed him. My brother was also a suspect, but no one thought the killer would be from our family,” Vijay’s wife Bhumi Patel told BBC Gujarati over phone.
Yogesh Patel has been remanded in judicial custody in a conspiracy to murder case. Yogesh Patel’s father and his wife refused to comment on the matter.
BBC Tamil on Social Media: