Ahmedabad police have cracked a 34-year-old murder case, exhuming skeletal remains and detaining suspects after family members' dreams and occult rituals unveiled the decades-old crime.
The crime branch of city police on Thursday claimed to have detected a 34-year-old murder with the exhumation of the skeletal remains of a woman from a house in Vatva area.
While no First Information Report has been registered yet, it is suspected that the woman's husband and his brother were among those who murdered her sometime in 1992 and buried the body in a well inside the house, police said.
"The crime branch successfully detected the case under highly unusual and intriguing circumstances," said Deputy Commissioner of Police Ajit Rajian.
The motive behind the crime was linked to extramarital relationship, he said.
Of late, family members of the suspects reportedly began to see the victim in their dreams or hallucinate about her, and in an attempt to seek relief from fear, started conducting occult rituals at the house where the woman had been murdered, he said.
It led to rumours, and police received a tip-off which led to the discovery of the skeleton from the house located near Qutub Nagar chowk in Vatva. The deceased was suspected to be one Farzana alias Shabnam, but the identity will be ascertained only after DNA testing, said Rajjan.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bharat Patel said the woman's husband and his brother have been detained for questioning, while other suspects are no longer alive.
Farzana, originally from Dholka taluka, had moved to Ahmedabad after her unsuccessful first marriage, he said.
She then married the main suspect in the case, but the couple often quarreled.
As she refused to separate, the husband allegedly conspired with his brother, a friend, and the woman owner of the house in Vatva area to get rid of her.
The victim was taken to the house for one night on some pretext, and her husband allegedly strangled her with the help of others as she was asleep. The body was then buried in the well which was not in use.
The house was later sold to another person but was unoccupied for the last five to seven years. Local people told police that it was believed to be a haunted place.
The exhumed bones have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for DNA profiling. Police have tracked down the victim's brother to collect a DNA sample for comparison, said ACP Patel.
"While witness statements suggest that the buried woman is indeed Farzana, we cannot state so with absolute certainty until we have solid scientific evidence," he said.
Once FSL reports confirm a DNA match, a formal First Information Report (FIR) will be registered and arrests will be made, said Patel.