Avinash Solanki murder case: Key suspect, two others held

A week after MIDC police found the body of a top police informer and a key witness in Keenan-Reuben murder case of 2011, Avinash Solanki aka Bali, the police have arrested three accused for the murder late on Saturday night.

The prime accused, Nilesh Shukla (38), has been deceiving and challenging the police to ascertain the murder motive. Shukla was arrested from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, said police.

Shukla, who was the prime suspect since day one, was arrested along with his driver Vanshbahaddur Singh aka Jagga (48) and bodyguard Ankit Dubey aka Munna (19). During the probe, it was revealed that Solanki had gone to Shukla’s office for a private drinks party, where the deceased had called two bar dancers for the company. In a bid to get the timeline straight, when the police interrogated the two girls, they confessed to being called by Solanki, but since they could not find the address, they never made it to the party. Repeated calls made by the dancers to contact Solanki at 10.15 pm on Friday went unanswered.

After suspecting Shukla to have disappeared, the police blocked his and Munna’s bank accounts. Whenever the duo tried to make any transaction through their debit cards, the police received a notification of their location. MIDC police had formed three teams and sent one each at Jaunpur, Lucknow and Mumbai. Upon receiving a tip-off about Shukla’s location, the police raided a hotel and arrested Shukla along with Jagga. Their interrogation led police to Munna who was arrested from Nalasopara.

After the arrest, Shukla confessed to the murder. Navinchandra Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 10) said, “Prima facie, the motive of the murder is suspected to be personal animosity. We are yet to recover the murder weapon - a hammer.”

Shukla owned a pharmaceutical company producing Viagra and liver ailment drugs, had a previous criminal record for drug possession. The probe revealed that Shukla had gone back home after the murder to change his bloodstained clothes. Soon after packing a bag, Shukla handed over the incriminating material to Munna and fled in a Safari car with driver Jagga. After leaving Mumbai, the duo went to Haridwar, Nainital, Nepal and then finally landed in Lucknow.

The two parties were not business partners, but Solanki used to demand money from Shukla to keep mum on the narcotics case against Shukla which was subjudice. The amount borrowed by Solanki went into the tunes of lakhs and could be one of the motive behind the murder, suspect police.