Morning Pulse: Rajkot robbery-murder cracked within a day; Sanghavi thanks police but withholds praise

Since yesterday's Morning Pulse, the loop we flagged most loudly has closed. Within roughly a day of the Rajkot robbery-murder, police said they had arrested the suspects and recovered the gold. That gave Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, who also handles home affairs, a rare thing for a minister arriving in a shaken city: a solved case. He chose not to treat it as a victory lap. The rest of the night's news was a reminder of how uneven that speed can be.

Daijiworld and the English edition of Gujarat Samachar both reported nine arrests in the killing of Lalji Sardhara, the 53-year-old Tanvi Gold employee shot outside the firm's unit in Aji GIDC on Wednesday evening. Gujarat Samachar said four of the nine were former employees who had left about six months ago and knew the firm's transfer routines. Daijiworld said police suspect an employee passed on details of the consignment's movement. Both describe this as the police account. No suspect has been named, so no response from the accused has been reported. Gujarat First, in a later update, put the number caught at ten, so the final count may still change.

Daijiworld reported that the whole consignment was recovered: 946 grams of gold and two kilograms of silver dust, valued at about Rs 1.53 crore. That figure is higher than the early estimates we carried yesterday. Suspects were picked up in Udaipur and Sirohi in Rajasthan and in Morbi, according to Gujarat First, after teams worked through CCTV footage and phone data. Gujarat Samachar said the recovered gold, weapons and car would be shown at a press conference once the Rajasthan arrestees reach Rajkot.

Sanghavi spoke about the case at the ceremony he was already due to attend, where he handed Indian citizenship certificates to 319 people who had come from Pakistan. DeshGujarat reported that he credited about 50 police teams, including some from other districts, and said they worked without letting Navratri celebrations be disrupted. Gujarat First quoted him declining to congratulate the force because an innocent man had died, while thanking officers as a citizen rather than as minister. On the citizenship certificates themselves, DeshGujarat reported that Sanghavi credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and that the Census Operations director said more than 1,500 people in Gujarat have now been given citizenship under the law.

A second industrial-area tragedy came from Gandhinagar district. Four workers were killed in a blast at a factory in Chhatral GIDC on Thursday, Deccan Herald and India TV reported. Deccan Herald said the explosion happened during pipe-fitting work near a boiler vessel and that police and forensic teams are examining possible safety lapses. India TV named the unit as Kovika Colour Company and said Gandhinagar SP Ravi Teja Vasamsetty confirmed the deaths. The victims' names had not been released.

In Ahmedabad, the search for the visually impaired ten-year-old who fell into an open drain near Pirana on 10 October has now passed six days without a trace. ETV Bharat Gujarat and Gujarat Samachar reported that AMC Standing Committee chairman Kamlesh Patel has ordered the drain line to be checked with CCTV cameras, from the spot to the pumping station and on to the Sabarmati. Gujarat Samachar said fire teams face strong currents, hot gases and chemically contaminated water. We still found no inquiry into how the drain came to be open.

One development reaches every Gujarati voter. The Election Commission has ordered a special summary revision of electoral rolls in 17 states and Union Territories, Gujarat among them, India TV and The Federal reported. The qualifying date is 1 January 2027. India TV said draft rolls come out on 12 November, claims and objections run until 11 December, and final rolls are due on 4 January. The Federal noted there will be no house-to-house visits this time, because the earlier special intensive revision is already over.

Two loops stay open. We found no fresh word on the Vadodara labour office bribe case or on the role of Assistant Labour Commissioner Deepak Chauhan. And there was still no announcement of a Gandhinagar mayor.