Agencies
 
Ahmedabad, Jun 18: NRI Pankaj Trivedi, who was murdered in the US on June 15, had written to the US Secret Service for protection for him and his family from Swadhayay Parivar, an Ahmedabad-based organisation, Gujarat police said on Saturday in a PTI report.

"In his letter dated May 19, the victim had sought protection from followers of the social organisation," ACP (City) R S Chudasama said.

Trivedi also alleged that he was being targeted by the Parivar chief and her supporters for "exposing" financial irregularities within the organisation.

Trivedi, who was part of the Parivar since 1972, claimed millions of dollars, collected as overseas donations for rehabilitation of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake victims, were misused in the last five years.

The US police found the letter addressed to its Secret Service in a file inside Trivedi's car on the day he was clubbed to death by unidentified persons outside a private club in Dayton. Gujarat police said adding that no arrests had been made yet.

In the letter, Trivedi also claimed that Parivar members had harassed him and his family and several fabricated cases were lodged against him.

Interestingly, Trivedi had also sought protection from Ahmedabad police in the past, police said.

Chudasama added that no action had been taken against the organisation as "nobody has lodged any complaint" against it.

"We cannot act against anybody on the basis of the letter written by Trivedi to the US Secret Service. He was known to have problems with members of the Parivar for the last few years," another police official said.