GJ-BHANUSHALI MURDER-LD CID

A co-passenger has admitted

that he was present when former Gujarat BJP MLA Jayanti

Bhanushali was shot dead in a first-class coupe of a train,

the state CID said Thursday.

The investigators also said they were trying to

ascertain the whereabouts of BJP leader Chhabil Patel, the

main suspect in the case.

Bhanushali, 53, was shot dead on a moving train when

he was returning to Ahmedabad from Bhuj Tuesday.

After intense questioning, Pavan More, who was

travelling in the same compartment, admitted that Bhanushali

was killed by two men in the first-class AC coupe, an official

said.

More had told the police earlier that he was in the

washroom when Bhanushali was shot dead and he found out about

the killing only when he returned to the coupe.

"Now he has revealed he was in the coupe when the

attack took place. Though he also claimed he was sleeping, may

be to avoid hassles (of police probe)," said Director General

of Police, CID- Crime and Railways, Ashish Bhatia.

The CID is also trying to trace Chhabil Patel. Patel's

son Siddharth had told police that he was in the United States

for some business-related work.

"We cannot believe someone's claim blindly... We are

still probing this aspect," said Superintendent of Police

Bhavna Patel, who is part of the seven-member special

investigation team (SIT) of the CID which is probing the case.

The CID has sought a list of persons who flew out of

the country from the Ahmedabad airport during the period when

Bhanushali was killed, said Deputy Superintendent of Police

(CID) J P Raol, who is also part of the SIT.

The first information report (FIR) registered at the

Gandhidham railway police station in Kutch names Patel, his

son Siddharth and four others as "suspects", but not as

accused.

Bhanushali had stepped down as Gujarat BJP's vice

president in July last year after a woman accused him of rape.

The High Court quashed the case after she withdrew the

complaint.

Bhanushali represented Abdasa Assembly constituency in

Kutch from 2007 to 2012. Chhabil Patel, then with the

Congress, defeated him in the 2012 Assembly election.

Within two years, Patel switched sides and joined the

BJP but lost the bypoll for the seat in 2014.

In 2017, the BJP chose Patel over Bhanushali for

Abdasa seat, but he lost to a Congress candidate.

Bhanushali's nephew Sunil Bhanushali alleged in the

police complaint that Patel held Jayanti responsible for his

defeat in 2014 and 2017 and held a grudge against him.

He also alleged that Chhabil Patel and others made a

CD which showed his uncle in a compromising position with a

woman. When Bhanushali refused to retire from political life

as demanded by Patel, the latter allegedly hatched the murder

conspiracy, the complaint said.