Rajkot: Tension gripped Sadak Pipaliya village in Gondal taluka of Rajkot district late on Saturday night after an armed group barged into a local family’s home, fired shots in the air, and assaulted members with metal pipes and sticks after a dispute over grazing goats.Rajkot Rural police arrested four persons and apprehended a minor in connection, while a manhunt has been launched to trace the prime accused, Dhruvrajsinh Jadeja, the grandson of former MLA Mahipatsinh Jadeja. The episode was captured on CCTV cameras.Mamta Solanki, 21, alleged in a complaint at Gondal Taluka police station that 50-odd goats owned by her family strayed into Rajendrasinh’s field in neighbouring Ribda village earlier that day, angering his son Dhruvrajsinh over alleged crop damage. The family lives behind the Doctor Pump factory, and Bhima Marwadi tends to the goats.Later that night, a motorcycle and a large black vehicle carrying several armed men arrived outside Solanki house. According to police complaint, one man fired a round into the air, hurled verbal abuse and forced his way inside with associates carrying metal pipes and sticks.The assailants first stormed into a room where Mamta’s husband, Gopal, was asleep and hit him with a stick before he managed to flee to the outskirts of the village. The attackers then targeted Mamta’s deaf-mute brother-in-law, dragging him out of a room and repeatedly striking him on his head and body until he collapsed unconscious and began bleeding. Believing him to be dead, the attackers moved to the verandah, where they assaulted the goatherd, Bhima.Before fleeing, the gunman pointed his weapon at the rest of the family, fired a second round into the air, and threatened them with death if their goats were to graze the fields again. The injured were taken to a govt hospital from where they were referred to a hospital in Rajkot for further treatment.Rajkot DSP Vijay Singh Gurjar confirmed the arrests of Karan Bamaniya, Arman Hothi, Sameer Visal, and Suresh alias Sajubha Jhala, and detained the juvenile.
