Porbandar: Forest guard went to raid liquor den

RAJKOT: Even as Porbandar police claim to have cracked the mysterious triple murder of a pregnant woman forest beat guard, her husband and a daily wager in Barda wildlife sanctuary, it has come to light that the victim Hetal Solanki had gone there to raid a liquor den.
While police refused to share any details saying they will announce today, Hetal’s father Vashram Rathod raised suspicion over a forester named LD Odedara who was reportedly with the victims till they went into the forest area to raid.
On Tuesday, Odedara was detained for questioning in Bagvadar police station of Pordandar district.
The bodies of Hetal, her husband Kirti and daily wager Naga Agath of the forest department, were found with severe head injuries on the rocks of a waterfall on Monday. They had gone missing on August 15.
Rathod, who lives in Rapar town of Kutch, said in his complaint that Hetal had a talk with her mother Jamna over the phone at around 1.30pm on August 15. She had mentioned that they were going to raid a liquor den in her Godhana beat. Rathod said Hetal had also spoken about Odedara, who had received information about the liquor den, was also with them. But later they lost contact with her.
On Sunday morning, parents of Hetal and Kirti reached Ranavav forest office where the range forest officer summoned Odedara. The forester told them that he had returned after showing Hetal the road leading to the liquor den.
When contacted, DJ Pandya, deputy conservator of forest, Porbandar said, “Hetal had initiated the raid on her own. Many times beat guards get information from their sources about illegal activity in the forest area and go to verify.”
Barda wildlife sanctuary is notorious for illegal country-made liquor dens.
While Porbandar superintendent of police (SP) Ravi Saini did not take calls for the entire day, deputy SP (rural) Smit Gohil said, “The investigation is on and we are close to arresting the accused. We will officially announce all details on Wednesday.”