Friend murders furniture trader in broad daylight, surrenders

Rajkot: A 43-year-old furniture businessman was murdered in broad daylight near Speedwell Party Plot in the city on Tuesday afternoon. The victim, Nilesh Tokia, was stabbed at least six times by his friend, Mahesh Jethwa. A video of the killing is circulating on social media.According to police, the killing occurred around 4pm in a busy area. Immediately after the killing, Jethwa walked into Gandhigram police station, surrendered and allegedly confessed to the murder.ACP (South Division) B J Choudhary, DCP Zone 2 Rakesh Desai and other officers rushed to the crime scene. The victim was taken to hospital but was declared dead on arrival.Th preliminary inquiry suggests that the motive behind the cold-blooded killing was linked to a love affair. Tokia, a resident of the Ankur Nagar area near Guruprasad Chowk, was well known in the furniture trade. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter."The accused and the victim knew each other. We are verifying the exact nature of their dispute," ACP B J Choudhary said.Rajkot Taluka police were in the process of filing an FIR as of Wednesday evening. Forensics teams collected evidence from the crime scene and the viral video is being used as the primary piece of digital evidence. The body was sent for a postmortem.