Daman nursing college accountant gets life term for killing principal, burning body in her car, in Valsad forest

Kanimozhi, whose husband C Manimaran stayed with their two children in Puducherry, had been working at the Government Nursing College at Silvassa for 15 years and was transferred and appointed as principal of the Government Nursing College (GNC) Daman (Union territory) in 2021.

Patel, then 26 years old, had been working as an accountant for eight months and faced allegations of having pocketed the mess fees paid by the students. Patel was also tasked with collecting mess fees from the students, giving them receipts and submitting the amount to the bank account of the college. Patel collected mess fees from students between July 2021 and February 2022 but failed to submit the amount to the bank. He collected Rs 12.73 lakh by way of fees and did not reimburse the mess contractor. The mess contractor, Amar Patel, initially requested payment of Rs 10.55 lakh for the months of September, October, and November 2021, and subsequently asked the college principal to settle the dues. Kanimozhi called Sawan Patel and enquired about the issues of pending dues of the mess contractor but he was evasive, police sources told The Indian Express. As per the FIR registered at the Silvassa police station on March 4, 2022, Kanimozhi put pressure on him to pay the amount and resolve the matter, warning him of potential legal action.

The accused admitted to having abducted the 45-year-old principal A Kanimozhi, before strangling her to death and burning her car along with her body on February 28, 2022

On February 28, when Kanimozhi was on her way to college from her residence at the Nursing staff quarters, Patel signalled her to stop her car and sat inside on the pretext of discussing the issue of the mess fees.

On the way, Patel overpowered and later strangulated her to death. Later, he drove the car and reached the nearby Tarak Pardi village in Valsad district, where used petrol to set her car on fire, with Kaninmozhi’s body inside. He later returned to his house, with Kanimozhi’s mobile phone and jewellery and hid it in the backyard of his home in Moti Daman.

Amid speculation that Kanimozhi had gone missing, the same day, the college director, Dr V K Das, received a message from her (Kanimozhi) mobile phone that she “had to go to her native place immediately as her mother had died by suicide.”

On the evening of February 28, Manimaran called Kanimozhi’s colleague, Vice Principal S Balamani, as her phone was unreachable. She told him that Kanimozhi had not come to college due to her mother’s death.

Manimaran became suspicious and on March 4, 2022, contacted the Silvassa police and, through a WhatsApp call, registered a complaint over the disappearance of his wife. Silvassa crime branch registered his complaint and started a probe. A police team reached the college and found out about the issue over mess fees that she had taken up with the college accountant.

The then investigating officer and Superintendent of Police, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Hareshwar Swami who is now posted in Delhi, told The Indian Express, “When we reached the spot, we found that the body had been burnt. Only some bones were left in the car. The car was also totally burnt, and as it was done in an isolated spot in a forest area in Vapi, nobody spotted it. We recovered her nose-pin from the skeleton. With the help of FSL officials, we took each and every leftover bone of the body and made a structure. Later, a DNA test was carried out and her DNA matched that of her son, M K Thirumaran, who also came to Silvassa. Once the DNA was matched, it was confirmed that the mortal remains were of the missing principal. We also have recovered blood stains near the fort in Daman, when a scuffle took place between Principal Kanimozhi and the accused Sawan Patel, who suffered a finger injury, which led to bleeding. We also had CCTV footage of both of them travelling in a car while reaching Vapi. We took an impression of the blood from the spot two days after the arrest of Sawan Patel. The accused had burnt the clothes he had worn while committing the crime, and we could only recover the ashes.”

Police questioned Sawan Patel, but he initially denied any role in her disappearance. Police later checked his whereabouts and cross-verified his statements, found them contradictory and questioned him again when he admitted to his involvement in the murder of the missing college principal. On March 5, police with Sawan Patel traced Kanimozhi’s torched car with her remains inside, in a forest area in Tarak Pardi village in neighbouring Vapi taluka of Valsad district.

Police then located the torched remains of Patel’s clothes, a mobile phone and Kanimozhi’s jewellery from the backyard of his house and arrested him for charges of kidnapping (IPC section 365) , 346(wrongful confinement), 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 392 (Punishment for robbery).

A Silvassa police officer told The Indian Express on Monday, “During interrogation, Sawan Patel told us that he had used the mess fees to renovate his house and facilitate his marriage.”

Swami added, “We are very much satisfied with the hard work done by our police team, including Police Inspector Manoj Patel, as we have brought justice to the family of the deceased. Kanimozhi’s husband died on 7 August 2025. He regularly attended the case trial and put tabs on all the developments.”

Sessions Judge Vibha Ingle stated in the order, “The prosecution has successfully established beyond all reasonable doubt that the accused has committed the homicidal death of Kanimozhi and that the accused on 28/02/2022 at around 9:15 am, when Kanimozhi was travelling from Silvassa to Daman in a car bearing registration No.DN-09-Q-6392, and when she was on the road between Ruin Church, Moti Daman, to Tarak Pardi, Village-Ambawadi, Gujarat, entered in her vehicle, wrongfully confined her in a Car and kidnapped her and later set her body on fire with the car.”

Holding him guilty of kidnapping, murder and destroying evidence, the order states, “The crime is committed in the most inhuman manner. The aggravating features surrounding murder show extreme brutality. The case in question is not the rarest of rare cases in nature, warranting the death penalty. Hence, having regard to the amplitude of gravity of the offence punishable under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, the accused had been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life.”

In the conviction order pronounced on October 1, the judge observed, “Since the DNA report analysed the skeleton lying in the burnt car is that of Kanimozhi, who was in the custody of the accused in a car. When the fact of the place of the burnt car was especially within the knowledge of the accused, the burden of proving how the car reached the particular place and how the person sitting inside succumbed to death, lies upon the accused. Since no cogent explanation or theory regarding circumstances in which Kanimozhi met with death in the car, is coming on record from accused Sawan, I find failure on part of accused to discharge said burden leads no other conclusion that accused confined Kanimozhi in a car wrongfully and prevented her from proceeding beyond limits imposed and secretly made said confinement as not to be known to any person interested in Kanimozhi and kidnapped her and accused drove the car to the discovered place Tarak pardi village Valsad and set the car on fire. Thus, I conclude the accused is the perpetrator of the murder of Kanimozhi.”

After his arrest, Sawan Patel was sent to judicial custody. Police had filed a chargesheet on June 1, 2022 in the case. The charges were framed against Sawan Patel on September 1, and the case trial proceeded from November 17, 2022.

In the chargesheet, Silvassa police also produced 31 prosecution witnesses, 48 documentary evidence, including 3 pen-drives, 2 DVRs, etc.
DNH District Government Pleader G G Purohit said, “We are satisfied with the court order and got a judgment in our favour. The Silvassa police had done much hard work in collecting the evidence, which had become important for getting the accused convicted in the court.”