This is the second murder in Vadodara in less than a fortnight. Earlier, on October 18, unidentified persons had shot dead jeweller Jitendra Soni in Manjalpur.

Police said that the Sunday night incident took place in Kamdhenu Motors, where a solitary guard, Anirudh Tiwari, had been posted for guard duty. Since there was no eyewitness to the crime, police speculated that the number of assailants could have been more than three.

Giving details, police said that the armed assailants attacked Tiwari, who was wielding only a lathi, with sharp-edged weapons and inflicted multiple injuries on him. At least 18 stab injuries were found on Tiwari's body, and injuries on his palm suggest that he tried to fend off the assailants.

``There are a number of bruises besides the injury marks. This suggests that a scuffle between the assailants and Tiwari might have taken place,'' an officer said.

After stabbing the guard, the assailants, according to the police, opened the showroom's back glass window with a screw driver and entered the showroom. Later, they broke open one of the lockers in the showroom and took away Rs 52,000. It was at about 9 a.m on Monday that a safai karamchari of the showroom spotted the body and informed the company managers, who subsequently informed the police.

But what has intrigued the police is that the assailants had straightaway walked into the room which was housing the locker, and did not touch any of the cupboards and lockers which were in the main hall outside.

``Only the locker which had the cash was opened, and no attempt was made to open any other cupboard or lockers. This means that the assailants knew where the cash was. So, we fear that some insider might have briefed the accused about the cash locker,'' an investigating officer said.

Besides police were also surprised by the fact that only one unarmed guard had been posted in the complex, which besides the showroom housed a workshop and a huge place for parking cars. A sniffer dog which was pressed into service by the police tracked the trails of the assailants for only about 300 meters. General Manager of the company, K Chandrakant Bhatt, refused to comment on the incident as the police was working on the case. ``It is an unfortunate incident and we are shocked. The police is investigating and it would be improper to comment at this stage,'' he told Express Newsline. Bhatt said that since no other employee or eyewitness was present it was difficult to say how many assailants were there.

Tiwari had joined the company only about a fortnight back and he came to the showroom at about 6.45 p.m as his shift started at 7 p.m. ``His shift was supposed to be over at 5 a.m but since he had volunteered to stay on till 7 p.m on Monday, as requested by his colleague, the murder was not detected till 9 a.m,'' an officer said.