Gandhinagar, Sep 23 (IANS) The Ahmedabad police on Tuesday, arrested the prime suspect in the brutal murder of 24-year-old Vaibhav Manwani, who was stabbed to death near the Ambapur canal in Gandhinagar’s Adalaj during his birthday celebrations late last week, officials said.

His girlfriend, Aastha Hariyani, who survived with multiple stab wounds, remains under medical observation.

The accused Vipul, also known as Vimal or Neel Parmar, has been nabbed by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch.

The arrest comes after a two-day multi-agency manhunt involving the Gandhinagar local Crime Branch, Special Operations Group, and Ahmedabad Anti-Terrorist Squad.

The accused, believed to be a history-sheeter from the Ashok Mill area on Naroda Road, has prior charges in two murder cases and several robberies, police said.

Vaibhav, a resident of Ahmedabad, was attacked shortly after 1:30 a.m. on September 20, when he and Aastha parked his car near the canal bridge after celebrating with friends.

An assailant opened the car’s backdoor, threatened the couple for money and jewellery, and then repeatedly stabbed Vaibhav — at least 12 times on the head, chest and shoulders — when he resisted.

Aastha, who tried to protect Vaibhav, was injured with cuts to her neck and hand.

According to the CCTV footage, the suspect was seen near the crime spot on a bike around 1 a.m. and left at 2:30 a.m. on September 20.

Forensic teams later recovered biological samples and other evidence from the crime spot.

“Technical surveillance and CCTV inputs helped us zero in on the accused. He was traced and taken into custody,” a senior police official said.

Interrogation is underway to determine if other individuals were also involved.

Police said that Aastha’s testimony, once she is declared fit to give a full statement, will be crucial in corroborating the sequence of events.

Locals are demanding tighter night patrolling around isolated stretches of the canal.

Gujarat has reportedly seen a steady decline in its crime rate over the past few years, especially for serious crimes like murder, attempted murder, rape, kidnapping and robbery, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The Gujarat government said that the crime rate in the state for such major offences dropped to 11.9 per 100,000 people in 2021, which is notably lower than the national average (30.2).

Crimes against women have also seen a decline from about 27.10 per lakh population in 2019 to around 22.90 per lakh population in 2022.

–IANS

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