Man Kills Bank Manager, Takes Away Rs 1.17 Crore From His Car: Gujarat Cops

A 20-year-old man has been arrested in Gujarat's Mahisagar district for allegedly shooting a private bank manager dead, taking away Rs 1.17 crore cash from the victim's car and dumping his body in a forest, an official said on Thursday.

Vishal Patil (35), a resident of Dahod, was killed by accused Harshil Patel two days ago, said PS Valvi, deputy superintendent of police, Lunawada division. Patil worked at Balasinor town and had known Patel for some time, he said.

"On October 3 evening, Patil took Rs 1.17 crore cash from his branch and left in his car for Dahod to deposit the money at a branch there," said the official.

Patel, a resident of Gothib village of Santrampur taluka, hatched a plan to grab the cash after learning that Patil was travelling alone. Patel asked Patil to meet him on his way to Dahod, said the deputy SP.

When Patil, who worked for the ICICI Bank, did not reach their Dahod branch till late in the night and calls to his phone number went unanswered, a senior bank official contacted his family. On October 4, Patil's son used the GPS service of his father's car and told the police that the vehicle's last location was at Godhar village of Santrampur taluka, said Valvi.

"Local police told us that the car caught fire on the night of October 3 but there was no body inside it. The cash was also missing from the charred car when we recovered it on Wednesday. Following an intense search, we recovered Patil's body from a forest area near Kadana village. We then arrested Patel after our investigation showed his hand in the crime," said Valvi.

The police have recovered the cash of Rs 1.17 crore from Patel, he said.

Upon learning that Patil is travelling with a lot of cash, Valvi said, Patel asked the victim to meet him on the pretext of discussing something.

When Patil stopped his car near Patel's village, the accused shot him in the head with his gun. After hiding the cash at his residence, Patel dumped Patil's body in the forest nearby and then set the car on fire to misguide police, said Valvi.

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