After Valmiki’s arrest, the police issued a message to other stations across all the districts of Gujarat seeking information of any undetected criminal cases that could be linked to him.

According to the police, Valmiki befriended a Karjan-based woman on social media and met her a few times, following which on July 13 he allegedly abducted and attempted to rob her.

The accused dropped the woman from her office to house thrice and on the fourth day (July 13), he allegedly abducted her and drove her to a deserted location along Vadodara-Ahmedabad Expressway near Anand, where he robbed her gold ornaments worth ` 70,000. When she protested, he allegedly strangled her with her dupatta in an “attempt to kill her” and escaped from the spot, the police said.

Later, the victim approached the police, following which he was apprehended on July 19.

Sub-Inspector Viram Lambariya said, “The accused has three previous cases of murder and a case of attempted murder lodged at Botad, Rajkot city and Rajkot rural police stations. His modus operandi has been to befriend women on social media. He used to take women in his sports vehicle and rape them. If they fought back, he would murder them. Later, he would decamp with the gold ornaments”.

“We have put out a message for the other police stations as he could have committed more offences,” said Lambariya.

Seeking his remand, the police informed the court that the accused was a “hardened criminal” and was “concealing information” during the probe. The accused had also jumped parole from Ahmedabad Central Jail in 2022.