Seven Years After Inter-Caste Marriage, Dalit Man Allegedly Killed by Wife’s Brother in Rajkot
A 27-year-old Dalit man was allegedly stabbed to death in broad daylight near Bhaktinagar Circle in Rajkot on Thursday, September 24, with police suspecting that his brother-in-law and two others attacked him over his inter-caste marriage seven years ago.
The deceased was identified as Vimal Dharmendra Vaniya, a resident of the Sahkar Road area near Kothariya Main Road who worked in a factory. According to the police, Vaniya was near Bhaktinagar Circle around 2 pm with a friend when he was allegedly attacked by three men, including his brother-in-law Kamlesh alias Kano Lakhbhai Dhandal. He was reportedly restrained and stabbed multiple times with sharp-edged weapons.
Vaniya was taken to Rajkot Civil Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Police have registered a murder case against Dhandal and two unidentified persons, along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Gujarat Police Act. Police teams have been deployed to apprehend the accused.
Inspector J.D. Parmar of Bhaktinagar Police Station said the preliminary investigation indicated that the alleged attack was connected to Vaniya’s marriage to Dhandal’s sister, Sheetal.
“The main suspect behind this murder is Kamlesh alias Kano Lakhbhai Gangad, who is the real brother of Sheetalben, whom the deceased had married. Holding a grudge over this love marriage, he committed this act. Legal proceedings to file the case and detain the accused are underway,” the police officer said.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Bhavesh Jadhav also said that the investigation so far indicated that resentment over the marriage may have led to the murder.
According to police, Vimal and Sheetal had eloped more than seven years ago. Her family initially traced the couple and took Sheetal back. She later left her parental home again and reunited with Vimal. The couple subsequently lived in several towns before returning to Rajkot, where they stayed with Vimal’s mother and stepfather.
The couple had a child together, who was around six months old at the time of Vimal’s death.
The FIR was registered on the complaint of Vimal’s mother, Bharti Dharmendra Vaniya. According to her complaint, Sheetal’s family had opposed the relationship from the beginning. The complaint states that after the couple first eloped, Kamlesh traced Sheetal and took her back, and the family subsequently arranged her marriage elsewhere. She later left her parents’ home and returned to Vimal.
Sheetal told the police that her family had previously threatened Vimal over their relationship. She also alleged that she had been pressured to marry an older man and that her family had opposed her relationship with Vimal.
In a statement following Vimal’s death, Sheetal alleged that her brother deceived her husband into leaving home before the attack. “My husband was supposed to go for a night shift, and they lured him under the pretext of getting an RC book. The RC book had already arrived yesterday. They falsely claimed that some documents for him had arrived. My husband went, and my brother killed him.”
Sheetal alleged that her family had opposed the relationship from the beginning and had threatened her and Vimal.
She said she had been underage when she first left home and was placed in a shelter home. According to her, members of her family came there and threatened that Vimal would be killed after she left the shelter.
Seven years after the couple’s marriage, Sheetal said she had lost contact with her family and was now left raising their infant son alone.
“Now what should I demand? They killed my husband. I have an only son—now where do I go with this six-month-old infant? We don’t have family or relatives around because we had a love marriage; there is no one beside us,” she said. She also alleged that her brother could have attacked her and her child had they been with Vimal at the time.
Police said CCTV footage from the area showed the accused fleeing the scene on a motorcycle. Investigators are continuing efforts to locate and arrest the accused.
The case has raised concerns about violence linked to inter-caste marriages, particularly where families oppose relationships across caste lines. The police have invoked provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, but the precise applicability of those provisions and the evidence establishing the motive will form part of the investigation.
The allegations made by Sheetal and Vimal’s family have not yet been adjudicated by a court. The police investigation and subsequent proceedings will establish the circumstances and motive behind the killing.
