Five members of the Swadhaya Parivar, a socio-religious organisation founded by Pandurang Shastri Athavale, were today arrested for allegedly clubbing to death killing non-resident Indian Pankaj Trivedi outside a club here on June 15.

Two years before his death, Trivedi had written to Chief Minister Narendra Modi that he feared for his life at the hands of Parivar members. His family members, too, had said he was under threat.

In his letter to Modi, Trivedi had spoken of the Parivar’s mismanagement of funds, including those collected for earthquake relief. Said Additional Police Commissioner P K Jha, “The five accused are hardcore Swadhyay Parivar members and were arrested from Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Junagadh and Jamnagar districts by different police teams.”

The arrested were identified as Chandrasinh Jadeja from Rajkot, Mansinh Arjan Vadher from Junagadh, Bhupendrasinh Jadeja from Jamnagar, and Hitesh Chudasama and Dakshesh Shah from Ahmedabad. “Our investigation will now focus on the brains behind the murder,” Jha said.