Ahmedabad: 34 years after woman vanished, two arrested for her murder

Ahmedabad: More than three decades after a woman from Dholka mysteriously disappeared, the Crime Branch registered a murder case and arrested two elderly men after recovering skeletal remains buried beneath a house in Vatva, and DNA identification.

The murder mystery was solved in the last week of April after the Crime Branch carried out an excavation at a house in the Qutubnagar area of Vatva based on a tip-off. Police have now registered an FIR in the case and arrested the victim’s husband, Shamsuddin Khedawala (61), and his elder brother, Iqbal Khedawala (63), from Jamalpur on charges of murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence.

According to the investigators, the breakthrough came after police received information that a woman named Farzana Radhanpuri, missing for nearly 35 years, had allegedly been killed and secretly buried inside a soak pit at the house.

A preliminary inquiry led investigators to a witness who claimed to have knowledge of the alleged burial. Acting in the presence of an executive magistrate, FSL experts and panch witnesses, police conducted excavation at the property on April 29.

During the digging operation, officials recovered human skeletal remains, including jaw bones and teeth, from nearly 18 feet below a cemented structure. The remains were sent to BJ Medical College for forensic examination and DNA samples were collected for scientific analysis.

Crime Branch later traced the woman’s family members in Dholka and obtained blood samples from her siblings for comparison. The FSL report subsequently confirmed that the DNA profile matched the skeletal remains recovered from the Vatva house, establishing the victim’s identity as Farzana Radhanpuri.

Investigators alleged that Farzana married Shamsuddin in the early 1990s, and frequent domestic disputes had strained the relationship. Police suspect that Shamsuddin, his brother Iqbal and two others — Shaliyabiwi Pathan and Abdul Kareem Javrawala, both now deceased — allegedly conspired to kill her and dispose of the body by burying it inside the soak pit before sealing it with masonry.

The FIR of murder, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy was lodged at the DCB police station late on Friday evening, nearly 34 years after the alleged murder.