Afternoon Pulse: Rajkot accused named in Rajasthan, Chhatral dead identified as Shah arrives

Since this morning, Gujarat's news has filled in faces rather than headlines. The Rajkot robbery-murder now has its first named suspects, and the Chhatral factory blast now has its named dead. Both lists point the same way: away from Gujarat. Men from Uttar Pradesh are accused of the killing, and workers from Jharkhand and Rajasthan died in the blast. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, meanwhile, lands in Ahmedabad today for a visit built around temples and garba.

The Rajkot press conference we flagged this morning had not been reported by the time of writing, so the police have still not given a full list of the accused. The first names have come from Rajasthan instead. Amar Ujala and Udaipur Kiran reported that Udaipur district police arrested Amit Kumar Pandey, 24, and Shivam Pandey, 26, both from Dhanpur in Uttar Pradesh's Chandauli district, at a highway checkpoint in the Sukher area late on Wednesday. Both outlets said about a kilogram of gold was hidden in the soles of their shoes, with about three kilograms of silver powder and the car used in the crime also seized. They said Sirohi police separately caught three more suspects. The accused have not been heard from, and these are police accounts.

Those reports sit awkwardly beside a detail we carried this morning. Gujarat Samachar had reported that four of the nine arrested were former Tanvi Gold employees. A PTI report, carried by Asianet Newsable and The Guardian Chronicle, quoted Rajkot DCP Hetal Patel as saying all the accused are from outside Gujarat. DCP Jagdish Bangarwa said they came from different parts of Uttar Pradesh and were caught with help from Rajasthan police. The two accounts can both be true, since former employees can be migrants, but the press conference will need to settle who planned the robbery and who fired the shot. The value of the loot also varies slightly between reports, at about Rs 1.53 crore to Rs 1.55 crore.

In Chhatral GIDC, the four workers killed on Thursday have been identified. ETV Bharat and The Sunday Guardian named them as Vinod Kumar Singh, Sikander Dehri, Teda Dehri and Laxman Meena. The Sunday Guardian said three were from Jharkhand, the youngest only 18, and that Meena was from Udaipur. ETV Bharat quoted Kalol Taluka police inspector JJ Gadhvi as saying excessive pressure inside a vessel is the suspected cause, with the exact cause awaiting the forensic report.

Both outlets reported something that complicates the safety story: the unit is said to have held its approvals, including a fire NOC. The Sunday Guardian said police were registering a case of accidental death. Investigators are checking whether safety steps were skipped during the maintenance work. If the paperwork was in order and four men still died, the question shifts from missing licences to how the work itself was supervised.

Amit Shah begins a two-day stay today. According to the IANS schedule carried by The Hans India, he meets Jain religious leaders in Ahmedabad in the afternoon. In the evening he lays the foundation stone for an 81-foot Shiva statue at the Varadayini Mata temple in Rupal, offers aarti at Bahuchar Mata temple in Mansa and attends a garba in Kolwada. Loktej reported that he leaves for Delhi on Saturday afternoon after programmes in Ahmedabad. Nothing on the published schedule addresses Rajkot, Chhatral or Pirana.

One international visitor is on the way. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio travels to Samarkand, Mumbai and Jamnagar between 17 and 22 October, PTI reported via The Tribune, citing the State Department. US Ambassador Sergio Gor said Rubio will meet Reliance officials in Jamnagar. Gujarat Samachar said energy trade and investment top the agenda. No date for the Jamnagar stop has been announced.

Several loops from this morning stay open. We found no new report on the Pirana drain search, which enters its seventh day with the CCTV check of the drain line still the latest step. There was no announcement of a Gandhinagar mayor, no fresh word on the Vadodara labour office bribe case, and no Gujarat-specific step yet in the electoral roll revision.