Man stabbed outside Gujarat court as murder suspects turn on one another

A man was stabbed in the stomach on a court’s premises in Gujarat’s Kutch district after he and four murder accused people got into an altercation on Wednesday morning, the police said. "It was fortunate that we were on scene and managed to apprehend the attacker when we did so.

Otherwise we would have had a murder on the court premises," said M J Christian, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Bhuj. It took three police officers and two or three other men to apprehend the attacker on the sessions court premises in Kutch.

Christian told The Indian Express that the accused were out on bail in a 2024 murder case and that the victim was a friend of one of them. “We moved him to GK General Hospital for treatment. We are waiting for him to recover enough to give a statement, following which an FIR will be filed in this case," he added.

Christian said he arrived at the court between 11 and 11.30 am to give a statement in a case. As soon as he stepped out of his vehicle, he noticed an altercation in the lane leading to the back of the courthouse towards the parking area.

Christian found a man brandishing a large knife, which he had just used to stab the victim. The police managed to subdue the attacker in the nick of time and made him drop the knife. Videos that have gone viral show the police and others hitting the attacker in an attempt to make him let go of the weapon.

Another video, taken from extremely close quarters, shows the men fighting before others intervened. Earlier in the day, Christian said in a press conference, "The police have prima facie found that four men who were on bail in a grievous offence—Rahul Karsan Marwada, Arun Ramji Marwada, Kiran Khimji Bhayan and Sachin Mulji Meriya—had gone to court to record their attendance to fulfil a bail condition.

They came out of the court building and began fighting over who was to blame for some others getting blamed in the case.” The police said a fifth co-accused, Kishan Mulji Meriya, is still in jail in the murder case and that the stabbing victim, Mayur Gosai, is a friend of Arun Ramji Marwada.

His condition is said to be relatively stable. Inspector M R Nakum told The Indian Express that it was Rahul Karsan Marwada who stabbed Mayur Gosai. He added the police would register an attempt-to-murder case against Marwada.

Brendan Dabhi works with The Indian Express, focusing his comprehensive reporting primarily on Gujarat. He covers the region's most critical social, legal, and administrative sectors, notably specializing at the intersection of health, social justice, and disasters.

Expertise Health and Public Policy: He has deep expertise in healthcare issues, including rare diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the complex logistics of organ transplants, and public health challenges like drug-resistant TB and heat health surveillance.

His on-ground reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mucormycosis was critical in exposing healthcare challenges faced by marginalized communities in Gujarat. Social Justice and Legal Administration: He reports on the functioning of the legal and police system, including the impact of judicial philosophy, forensics and crucial administrative reforms (.

He covers major surveillance and crackdown exercises by the Gujarat police and security on the international border. Disaster and Crisis Management: His work closely tracks how government and civic bodies respond to large-scale crises, providing essential coverage on the human and administrative fallout of disasters including cyclones, floods, conflict, major fires and reported extensively on the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad.

Civic Infrastructure and Governance: Provides timely reports on critical civic failures, including large scale infrastructure projects by the railways and civic bodies, as well as the enforcement of municipal regulations and their impact on residents and heritage.

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