Ahmedabad: Cops on Thursday took Navalsinh Chavda to Wadhwan in Surendranagar where he had allegedly killed three of a family in March 2023.
A senior police officer said Dipesh Patadia (50), an acquaintance of Chavda, had told the witchdoctor about his daughter Utsavi’s relationship with a man he did not approve of.
Chavda convinced Dipesh and his wife Parul that their 19-year-old daughter was possessed and that he could exorcise the spirit. He had borrowed around Rs 2 lakh from the Patadias and wanted to avoid repayment, said a police officer.
So Chavda called the three to a secluded spot near Dudhrej canal. During the rituals, he offered them food laced with poison, killing them and pushed their bodies into the canal. Their identities were established from documents found in Patadia’s clothes. Wadhwan police had registered a case of accidental death, calling it a suicide pact. They even questioned Chavda, but the case remained on the backburner. It has now been reopened. tnn
