On March 13, Paleja was allegedly intercepted by a group of men in Bedi and stabbed to death. Based on a complaint filed by Paleja’s nephew Noormamad, Bashir Saicha, Sekundar Saicha, Imran Saicha, who is also Razak’s brother, and 12 others were booked for murder, criminal conspiracy, and rioting. Noormamad had said in the complaint that the accused didn’t like Harun Paleja appearing in court on behalf of the family of a teacher who died by suicide last year due to alleged sexual harassment by Razak and others. Razak was arrested in that case and is in judicial custody.

Sekundar was nabbed by Jamnagar Police when he went to the residence of one of his relatives on the outskirts of the city, inspector Nikunjsinh Chavda, who is investigating officer (IO), said. “…we were maintaining a vigil there. As soon as he arrived at the spot, he was nabbed by our team” Chavda, who is part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by Jamnagar SP Premsukh Delu to investigate the case, said.

Meanwhile, a magisterial court in Jamnagar Wednesday sent Bashir to seven days of police custody. A resident of the Bedi area of Jamnagar city, Bashir (32) was arrested by the Local Crime Branch from Balambha in Jodiya Tuesday. Jayvirsinh Zala, Deputy Superintendent of Police of Jamnagar division who is supervising the SIT, said Bashir is a relative of Razak Saicha, a history-sheeter and “leader of the Saicha gang of Jamnagar”.

“Bashir is Razak’s cousin and was present on the spot when advocate Paleja was assaulted,” Zala said, adding, “Bashir’s interrogation has revealed that the Saichas harboured a notion that Paleja was responsible for all the litigations they were facing and therefore, they murdered him.”

Chavda said that Bashir, who runs a vehicle service station in the Bedi area, is an accomplice of Sekundar and Imran. The IO also said that a motorbike and a pipe Bashir had used while assaulting Paleja as well as the clothes he was wearing at the time of committing crime have been recovered.