Two shots fired at apartment, 6 held

Vadodara: Two rounds were fired outside an apartment in Bhayli area in the early hours of Friday, triggering panic among residents. While no one was injured in the incident at Aarana Apartment around 1.10am, the taluka police arrested six men in connection with the firing on Friday afternoon.

This is the second incident of gunfire in the city in the last one week.According to Vadodara rural police, the men involved in the Bhayli firing had gathered at an office in Ashwamedh Complex for a liquor party. “Mehul Gadhvi, who owns a pistol, was mocked by his friends during the party and asked if his weapon was real. Gadhvi then pulled out his pistol and fired two shots outside the office,” said DSP (rural) Sushil Agrawal.The bullets hit two houses on the second and third floor of Aarana Apartment following which the neighbours woke up. One of the bullets pierced the window of Ritu Yadav’s flat on the second floor. She filed a complaint against the men involved at the taluka police station.“Our team reached the spot and began investigation to ascertain the direction from which the bullets were fired,” Agrawal told TOI. The cops soon learned that the shots were fired from an office across the apartment.

They searched the office and found empty liquor bottles. One of the accused Shaktisinh Rana was a friend of the person who had taken the office on rent and hence he organised a party there.Apart from Gadhvi and Rana, the other accused including Sanjay Dave, Vijay Bharwani, Deepak Jha and Indrajeet Vaghela have been arrested. “We filed a complaint of attempt to murder, the arms act and under the prohibition act against all the accused,” added Agrawal.

The police stated that they have written to the authorities to cancel Gadhvi’s arms license.The cops suspect that the arms license shown by Gadhvi might not be valid. Another firing incident had occurred on Waghodia Road in the city on the night of June 26. Madanlal Bakoliya, a garment trader, was shot by two men and suffered injuries on his shoulder. The cops are yet to nab the accused.15 offences registered against accusedOne of the accused Sanjay Dave is also an accused in gangster Mukesh Harjani’s murder in the city. Dave, who has 15 offences registered against him, was earlier a member of Harjani’s gang. The police said that another accused Shaktisinh Rana also has two offences registered against him.