'Chacha, come for refreshments': UP advocate lured into car, abducted and murdered

Police have detained three suspects and are questioning them to unravel the conspiracy behind the killing.LUCKNOW: A senior advocate and four-time former president of the Kalpi Bar Association, Gayadin Ahirwar (70), was allegedly abducted and murdered after being lured into a car by men posing as clients seeking to discuss a case.His body was recovered from Kanpur Nagar's Sachendi area on Sunday morning, hours after he went missing while returning home from court.Police have detained three suspects and are questioning them to unravel the conspiracy behind the killing.Preliminary investigations indicate that a long-running land dispute may have been the motive, though officials said all angles are being examined.According to family members, Ahirwar had attended proceedings at the Orai court on Saturday and called his son, Harsh Mitra, around 3.30 pm, asking him to pick him up from Munna Full Power intersection. He reportedly told his son they needed to collect a legal file from a client near the Durga Temple crossing before heading home.Harsh took his father to the designated location on a scooter. There, a white Maruti Dzire with three occupants was waiting.According to the family, two men stepped out, addressed the advocate as "Chacha" and asked him to accompany them for refreshments before handing over the case file. Trusting them, Ahirwar got into the vehicle, which then drove towards Alampur crossing.Harsh followed the car for some distance but eventually lost sight of it. When his father failed to return home and his mobile phone became unreachable, the family alerted police.Jalaun police launched a large-scale overnight search operation.Superintendent of police Suresh Chandra Rawat said multiple teams were deployed and technical surveillance, including CCTV footage analysis, was used to track the victim and the vehicle.The breakthrough came during the night when police detained three suspects. Based on information gathered during interrogation, teams traced Ahirwar's body to the Gujaini Park area under Sachendi police station limits in Kanpur Nagar, nearly 80-90 kilometres from Kalpi.Police sources said the advocate had suffered multiple injuries on his head, face and back, while one eye had been severely damaged, indicating a brutal assault before death. The body was sent for post-mortem examination.Investigators are closely scrutinising a decades-old dispute involving nearly four hectares of land in Hasa village under Kalpi tehsil.Fellow advocates said Ahirwar had been locked in litigation over the property since 2000, with several civil and consolidation cases pending before courts. The property was later allegedly sold during the dispute, triggering further legal battles and stay orders.Police are also examining an SC/ST Act case filed by Ahirwar against several individuals, including a land claimant, following an alleged assault. The matter had come up for hearing in Orai on October 31, and the next date was fixed for November 11. Ahirwar was returning from that hearing when he was allegedly abducted.A prominent legal practitioner since 1981, Ahirwar was elected president of the Kalpi Bar Association for a fourth term earlier this year. He is survived by his wife, three sons and two daughters.