Drunk or sober Kirit Rawal was a great crime reporter

This Saturday Kirit Rawal died. The man who dominated Crime reporting for more than two decades died working. He collapsed in his chair in Sandesh, the newspaper he served the most. In the later years , he was gradually fading away from the live scene. And if there is anything he is known for is his being wet in dry Gujarat.But it does not make any difference to the fact that he was a great reporter. Here, one of his former colleague and fellow crime reporter Bharat Lakhtariya talks about him and his passion of crime reporting and music.Though Bharat is not active in the field of crime reporting, his image of crime reporter and writer of popular column "crime file se " is the one which evokes his name in the mind of reporters and police both alike. Bharat writes Kirit took his last breath with his pen and paper on the desk of leading newspaper "Sandesh" Ahmedabad. That's the life of a journalist. He was basically a crime reporter and he remained a crime reporter all through his life. He was like a roaring lion in the field of crime journalism and his roars were heard in the police set up for decades.

Good height,broad chest and ever smiling bespectacled face was the identity of late Kirit Raval. His well built physique was probably a gift of his father's akhada in Patan.Kirit was a very good Sitar player. "Zanak, Zanak tore Baze Payalie Aaa,the famous song of film Mere Hoozoor was his favourite at "non crime" gatherings.
He started his career in 70s with Prabhat and Jansatta and worked for a short while with Sambhav and Western Times. But he is known as reporter of Sandesh where he worked for more than two decades. He is still remembered for his reporting of sensational Mangadh killings.

He was one of the famous trio of crime reporters of Gujarat. Other two are Ambalal Patel of Jansatta and Jaidev Patel of Gujarat. Ambalal has withdrawn from the field after his retirement and can be seen in social functions. Jaidev is still very active with his old banner of Gujarat Samachar.
Story of Crime reporting of Gujarat can never be complete without the mention of the name KIRIT RAWAL.