Inspired By "Drishyam" Film, Gujarat Woman Fakes Death Using Man's Burnt Body: Cops

A married woman and her paramour from Patan district of Gujarat allegedly killed a middle-aged man and dressed the corpse with her clothes before setting it on fire to fake her own death, police said on Wednesday.

The half-burnt body of the man from Jakhotra village in Santalpur taluka of Patan was recovered on Tuesday night, following which the police nabbed Geeta Ahir (22) and her lover Bharat Ahir (21) in the early hours of Wednesday from Palanpur railway station, an official said.

The accused woman told the investigators that she hatched a conspiracy to fake her own death after getting inspired by "Drishyam" film, he said.

Addressing a press conference, Patan Superintendent of Police (SP) V K Nayi said, "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." On Tuesday night, Geeta left her house when everyone was asleep. Later, when 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, Nayi said.

"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. However, after bringing the body home, they found that the deceased was a man. After being informed about it, we registered a case of murder and launched a probe," the SP said.

The dead person was later identified as 56-year-old Harjibhai Solanki, who used to live a nomadic life at neighbouring Vauva village in Santalpur taluka, according to Nayi.

After coming to know that Geeta was in love with Bharat and both might flee to Rajasthan by train, a police team nabbed both of them from Palanpur railway station, where they were waiting for a Rajasthan-bound train, the SP said, adding that both of them admitted to their crime.

"Geeta told us that since she had seen "Drishyam" as well as "Drishyam 2" movies, she came up with this plan to fake her death so that she can spend the rest of her life with Bharat, who agreed to act as per her plan and started searching for a man or a woman for murder. On May 26, he spotted Solanki and offered him a lift on his motorcycle," the SP said.

Bharat stopped his vehicle at a secluded place and killed Solanki by strangling him before taking the body near a pond at Jakhotra, the official said.

As planned, Geeta fled her house on Tuesday night when everyone was asleep and reached the spot with a bottle of petrol, said Nayi.

"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.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)