Ahmedabad, May 9 (IANS) A DNA report has confirmed a positive match in the suspected 1992 murder case in Ahmedabad’s Vatva area, leading the Crime Branch to begin the process of registering an FIR in what investigators describe as a breakthrough in a more than three-decade-old case.
Confirming the development to IANS, Crime Branch Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ajit Rajian, said: “DNA report has come in the Vatva murder case of 1992. There is a positive match. Now the FIR is being registered.”
The case relates to the suspected murder of a woman identified by investigators as Farzana, also known as Shabnam, whose skeletal remains were recovered last month from an abandoned property near Qutub Nagar in the Vatva area after an excavation carried out by the Crime Branch and forensic teams.
Police had earlier said the remains, including bone fragments, teeth and hair, were found buried deep inside a septic tank or unused well at the house during a search operation launched based on specific inputs linked to the woman’s disappearance in 1992.
According to investigators, Farzana had moved to Ahmedabad from Dholka after her first marriage failed and later married the main accused, Shamshuddin Khedawala.
Police suspect that frequent disputes between the couple eventually led to a conspiracy to kill her.
Officials alleged that she was strangled inside the house and her body was secretly buried in the unused underground structure to conceal the crime.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Bharat Patel had earlier said the woman’s husband, his brother and others were suspected to have been involved in the crime, while some of the accused were believed to have died over the years.
Investigators also traced Farzana’s brother in Mumbai and collected DNA samples from family members for forensic comparison after the remains were recovered.
Officials had maintained that a formal FIR and arrests would follow only after scientific confirmation of the victim’s identity.
Police said the case resurfaced after unusual information emerged from members of the accused family, who allegedly claimed to experience recurring hallucinations and fear linked to the woman’s death.
DCP Rajian had earlier said the family was “under tremendous stress due to recurring apparitions of the dead woman”.
The information eventually led Crime Branch officials to investigate the abandoned property and begin excavation work.
In another major development in the probe, the Crime Branch believed to have traced the prime accused alive on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, despite earlier claims that he had died years ago.
Forensic officials had earlier stated that the remains were severely decomposed and calcified because of the passage of time, making DNA extraction difficult.
With the DNA report now confirming a match, the Crime Branch is expected to formally intensify the murder investigation and proceed with legal action in the 34-year-old case.
–IANS
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