Surat murder accused jumps to death in court

A 44-year-old murder accused committed suicide by jumping off the 6th floor of the Surat district court on Tuesday afternoon. The deceased was identified as Jashwant Sawani, a steel trader of Punagam.

Police said Sawani and Ravi Pandit were taken to the court for hearing in a double murder case, in which both were accused.

After the first session of hearing, they had lunch on the 6th floor of the building. Later, Sawani asked police officials accompanying him to unlock his handcuff saying he needed to go to toilet. As soon as his handcuff was unlocked, Sawani rushed to the lobby and jumped off, police said, adding that he died on the spot.

An advocate suffered severe injuries in the incident as Sawani fell down on his desk on the ground floor. He was rushed to a local hospital for treatment, police said.

The Umra police sent the body to the New Civil Hospital for postmortem.

"The reason behind Sawani's drastic step is not known yet. We suspect he might have gone under depression," said Umra police inspector J B Gadhvi.

According to the police, Sawani and Pandit were charged with murder of Ashok Lathiya and Kishor Mangukia, who were killed on August 14. Both accused were sent to judicial custody in the Surat Central Jail.

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