A married woman and her lover from the Patan district of Gujarat allegedly killed a man and dressed the corpse in her clothes before setting his body on fire to fake her death, inspired by the film “Drishyam”, police officials told PTI on Wednesday.
The police nabbed the accused, 21-year-old Geeta Ahir and 21-year-old Bharat Ahir, on Wednesday from the Palanpur railway station.
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The half-burnt body of the middle-aged man used to fake her death was recovered on Tuesday night from Jakhotra village in the Santalpur taluka of Patan.
The accused woman told the police that she had hatched a conspiracy to fake her death based on the plot of the film “Drishyam”
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Patan SP VK Navi, said during a press briefing, “Geeta, who lives with her husband at Jakhotra, came up with this plan and convinced her lover to arrange a dead body so that they can fake her death and live together after fleeing from Gujarat.”
The dead man was later identified as 56-year-old Harjibhai Solanki, who lived a nomadic life as per SP Navi, in the neighbouring Vauva village in Santalpur taluka.
How did the woman plan to fake her death?
On Tuesday night, Geeta left her house when everyone was asleep.
Later, while her husband and other family members were searching for her, they found a half-burnt body lying near a pond on the outskirts of the village.
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“Since Geeta’s ‘ghagra’ (long traditional skirt) and her anklets were found on the body, her kin initially thought that it was Geeta’s body,” Navi said.
Once they brought the body back home, the family members realised it was a man. They informed the police and a murder case was registered.
The police realised that Geeta and Bharat planned to run away toether, during their probe, and nabbed them both at a railway station heading towards Rajasthan.
Both Geeta and Bharat admitted to the crime. She added that the “Drishyam” film franchise had inspired her actions. She stated that they targeted Solanki after he offered her a motorcycle ride on May 26.
Bharat lured Solanki to a secluded area and strangled him, after which he took the body near a pond in Jakhotra. After Geeta fled her house at night, she reached the spot with a bottle of petrol.
“They first put Geeta’s ghagra as well as anklets on Solanki’s dead body, and set it on fire using petrol brought by her. They fled from the spot and reached Palanpur railway station as they had planned to go to Jodhpur by train. However, our team nabbed them from the spot,” Nayi said.