Two artisans from West Bengal were allegedly beaten to death over suspicion of theft at a silver jewellery-making unit in Gujarat’s Rajkot city, police said on Sunday.

The police on Saturday arrested the factory owner and eight others in connection with the crime and more arrests are likely in the case, an official said.

The victims Rahul Sheikh and Suman Sheikh worked at MBS Ornaments, a silver jewellery-making unit in Rajkot, the official from Thorala police station said.

Factory owner Sagar Savaliya, its managers, security guards, two labour contractors and a few others have been arrested under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code for murder, kidnapping, wrongful confinement, and rioting, he said.

The incident took place on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, the official said.

As per the FIR, the two men were suspected of stealing silver at the factory and were taken to the factory office, where the accused thrashed them with plastic pipes and sticks, police said.

The duo was then confined in a room and were found dead in the morning, they said, adding that some of the accused allegedly destroyed CCTV footage of the premises to destroy evidence.

According to the police, Rahul was allegedly caught stealing 100 gm of silver by concealing it in his footwear.

The security guard took the victim to the manager, who called two labour contractors who supplied workers to the factory and asked them to recover 3 kg silver from him, they said.

They thrashed Rahul, who allegedly confessed to having given the silver to Suman. The second victim was then kidnapped and brought to the factory, where he was similarly beaten up.

After beating up the victims, the accused confined them in a room, where they were found dead by the security guard on Friday morning, police said.

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