3 min readSuratMar 5, 2026 08:27 PM IST
Six persons including the owners of a drug rehabilitation centre in Surat were arrested on murder charges on Thursday after a 32-year-old man who was admitted to the facility for treatment died under questionable circumstances on March 1.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (M Division) Sweta Daniels said that the arrested employees allegedly thrashed the patient, Dhaval Rathod, with wooden sticks after he refused to follow their instructions.
“Rathod fell unconscious after which he was taken to New Civil Hospital in a 108 ambulance. The rehabilitation centre staff said that the patient is not well and has breathing problems,” ACP Sweta Daniels told The Indian Express. At New Civil Hospital, doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Dumas police station officers reached the hospital and lodged an accidental death complaint in this connection first and launched a probe.
On Tuesday, a panel of doctors carried out an autopsy on Rathod and found several injury marks on his body. The postmortem report shows the cause of death as ‘head injury caused by being hit by a hard object’, the ACP said.
The Dumas police officers reached Rewa Rehab Centre, checked the CCTV footage and spoke with employees and patients and registered a case of murder against the employees of the centre on Wednesday.
Six persons identified as Jignesh Desai, Rohan Sanghani, Shailesh Vaghela, Dilip Joshi, who are employees of the centre, and Nehal Solanki and her husband Pranav Solanki, the owners of the facility, were arrested on Thursday.
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Rathod, who ran a milk depot in Banaskantha, was brought to Rewa Drug Rehab Centre in Sultanabad, Dumas, on February 28. After the admission procedures, the staff allotted him a bed with other inmates. When the staff at the facility gave him medicines at night, he allegedly refused to take them and told them that he wanted to go home, police said.
The next morning also, he allegedly refused to take medicines and follow the instructions of the staff. On the evening of March 1, the staff had an argument with Rathod and allegedly beat him up, police said.
ACP Daniels said, “The deceased was under depression and was taking medicines for proper sleep. The family came to know about the rehabilitation facility in Surat through social media. Dhaval’s younger brother works in the Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company at Surat. The family admitted Dhaval to the rehab centre on February 28 for 10 days of treatment. His elder brother is a police inspector in the Junagadh Police Training College.”
“We have arrested all six accused, including two owners, and are questioning them. As many as 30 patients are admitted to the rehabilitation facility currently,” the ACP added.
