According to the Makarpura Police Inspector G J Sindhi, two unidentified persons hired his taxi from the Surat railway station around 11 pm on Sunday and asked him to take them to Kamrej.

Newspaper reports in Surat of the looting near Kamrej Crossing the next day alerted the deceased's maternal uncle Yuvraj Motiram Patel. As the victim had taken passengers towards Kamrej, which was reported to Patel by another taxi driver, he suspected that Ashok might be the victim. His suspicion proved right when Ashok's car was found abandoned in Navsari on Monday evening.

He rushed to Vadodara on Tuesday when he read again in the newspapers that a body of an unknown youth was found in Vadodara and identified it. Ashok was looted of all the cash he was carrying and his body, with his hands tied and mouth gagged, was thrown on the outskirts of Vadodara city. But the body did not bear any weapon injuries, except for burn injuries caused by acid.