Senior police officer KG Zala said police had now registered a murder case on a complaint by Sandeep’s wife, Gayatri. The main accused, Hasmukh, is on the run. A 46-year-old man from Gujarat’s Rajkot is on the run after he allegedly murdered his friend as part of a chilling plot to fake his death, apparently to claim an insurance payout
The shocking case unfolded after a body was found at a rundown house at Gondal in Rajkot district on Friday. Hitesh Dhanja lives nearby and was visiting the rundown family home where nobody stays now.
There, he found a half-burnt body. Next to the body was a wallet and a phone belonging to his elder brother Hasmukh, who lived in Rajkot city.
Hitesh rushed and informed the village headman, who called in the cops. Police recovered the body and sent it for autopsy. The findings added an entirely new angle.
The cause of death was strangulation and not burns. Assuming that Hasmukh was killed and then his body burnt, police started a probe to identify who was behind the crime.
When the investigation revealed that Hasmukh went to meet his friend Sandeep Goswami (40), police started looking for him. They found his phone switched off and contacted his wife, Gayatri.
She told police that Sandeep got a call from Hasmukh on December 25 and left home soon after.
She said the two were friends and had planned to visit Mumbai for a business trip to Mumbai.
Gayatri said she had been trying to contact her husband, but his phone was off. When the police showed her the half-burnt body, Gayatri said it belonged to her husband, not Hasmukh. The forensic examination confirmed this.
