Ahmedabad, Jan 8: Senior Gujarat BJP leader and former MLA Jayanti Bhanushali was shot dead by unidentified persons while he was travelling in a train in the wee hours of Tuesday, police said.

The incident took place around 2 am in the Bhuj-Dadar Express train when Bhanushali, 53, was returning to Ahmedabad from Bhuj town of Kutch district in Gujarat.

Bhanushali had stepped down from the post of Gujarat BJP's vice president in July last year after a woman accused him of rape. However, the Gujarat High Court had quashed the case in August 2018 after the woman withdrew the complaint.

He was apparently shot dead between Gandhidham and Surajbari stations in the neighbouring Kutch district, Morbi district's Superintendent of Police Karanraj Vaghela said.

"The railway police on board the Bhuj-Dadar Express informed the Morbi police that Bhanushali was shot dead in the train. When the train reached Maliya station of Morbi, we recovered the body and sent it for post-mortem," he said.

As per preliminary investigation, two bullets were fired at him, Vaghela said.

"We also recovered some empty bullet cases from the compartment and sent them for forensic examination. The railway police will file an FIR in connection with the incident," he said.

Bhanushali had represented the Abdasa Assembly constituency in Kutch from 2007 to 2012.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.

Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.

Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.

Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.

MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.

MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.

Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.

Brief Scores:

Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).