A decade after former Gujarat MLA Bhura Munja Jadeja—brother of assassinated Mer community strongman Sarman Munja Jadeja and “Godmother” Santokben’s brother-in-law—died in 2016, his second wife has filed a land-grabbing complaint against Hiralba Jadeja, who also claims to be his wife.
Hiralba Jadeja, currently lodged in a Junagadh jail, was booked on Monday in a case under the Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act at the Kamlabaug police station in Porbandar city. She also has seven other cases filed against her in Gujarat and Haryana.
This development came in light of the Porbandar District Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Committee’s alleged findings that Hiralba Jadeja had illegally possessed 13 properties registered in the names of the former MLA’s second wife, Chauladevi, 70, and her son Bharat.
In 1995 Bhura Munja Jadeja was the MLA for the Ranavav-Kutiyana constituency of Porbandar, which became the Kutiyana constituency after delimitation later. He lived in the UK for many years, and the families of his first wife, Rajiben, and Chauladevi are said to divide their time between that country and India.
In 1993, the Anti-Terrorist Squad raided Bhura Munja Jadeja’s Porbandar home and allegedly seized weapons from a field. He was booked under India’s first anti-terror legislation, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, or TADA, but was acquitted in April 2015.
While Hiralba Jadeja has called herself “wife of Bhura Munja Jadeja”, the police claim to have found evidence to the contrary. Deputy Superintendent of Police Rutu Raba told The Indian Express, “During investigation, we found a public notice issued by Bhura Munja Jadeja in 2013 stating that he had no relationship with Hiralba Jadeja”.
A copy of the September 20, 2013, notice published in a newspaper, as seen by The Indian Express, read, “I, Bhurabhai Munjabhai Jadeja (Kadchha), hereby inform that I have no relationship with Mrs Hiralba Bhurabhai Jadeja, so if anyone wants to associate with her, then do so after due consideration.”
The address mentioned is of “Suraj Palace” in Porbandar.
Chauladevi’s 2025 application to reclaim 13 properties
In July 2025, Chauladevi filed an application with the Porbandar collectorate stating that Hiralba Jadeja had taken illegal possession of 13 properties registered in her and Bharat’s names. This included the famed 1,865 square-metre “Suraj Palace” bungalow, from where Hiralba Jadeja was originally arrested in a slew of cases last year.
Over the next six months, Deputy Collector and Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Sandipsinh Jadav investigated the case and submitted a report to the Porbandar District Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Committee. Headed by the collector, the committee also comprises the superintendent of police, district development officer, and resident additional collector as members.
Speaking on the inquiry conducted under his mandate, Jadav told The Indian Express, “Chauladevi filed an application with the collectorate and said that seven properties, including the bungalow, were registered in her name and six other properties purchased and jointly registered in her name and that of her son Bharat had been illegally possessed by Hiralba Jadeja. We sent a notice to Hiralba Jadeja at Junagadh Jail, and she gave her written reply that the properties were ‘disputed’ and that the matter was pending in court.”
Jadav added, “Earlier, Chauladevi had filed an application with the city survey department to transfer properties that were in the name of Bhura Munja Jadeja to her own name. Hiralba Jadeja had objected to it, claiming that she was eligible to inherit these properties under probate. This matter is currently in the Porbandar district court. However, that refers to properties registered in the names of Bhura Munja Jadeja and/or Hiralba Jadeja. But this was not part of our mandate.”
Probate is a court-certified copy of a will under the Indian Succession Act and acts as legal proof of validity.
“We had to just look at the 13 properties that were in the names of Chauladevi and Bharat. Chauladevi submitted valid property cards and we cross-checked with the city survey and found the entire trail of the sellers and buyers and owners of the 13 properties. The paper trail of ownership has been fully established. We forwarded our opinion to the district committee in about six months,” he said.
However, under provisions of the Gujarat Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act and Gujarat High Court orders, the impugned person must be given another hearing after the district committee has come to a decision.
The Indian Express learnt that the SDM of Kutiyana was tasked with granting Hiralba Jadeja this opportunity. “This is an additional check and balance put into the law because it may so happen that the person may relinquish possession of the properties and the matter ends there,” said Jadav.
However, Jadav added that since Hiralba Jadeja had continued to claim the 13 properties as disputed, the matter was forwarded to the police for criminal proceedings.
Hiralba was Bhura Munja Jadeja’s TADA case lawyer
In her police complaint, Chauladevi stated that she had been married to Bhura Munja Jadeja in 1986 and that the marriage was registered in the UK. They have two children, Bharat and Ira. It also stated that she married Jadeja after he divorced his first wife, with whom he had two daughters: Geeta and Rekha.
Chauladevi stated that they had bought a house at Suraj Palace in 1998 “in her name” and the land plots around it jointly in her and her son Bharat’s names.
The FIR stated, “In 1995, my husband was booked under TADA, and Hiralba Jadeja (Khachhar) had helped him as his lawyer. She then continued to work with my husband as he was politically active while I went to live in the UK.”
“In 2016, when my husband got sick, I returned to India with my children and stayed with him in Apollo Hospital for two days till he died… After a while, when my children went back to the UK, Hiralba Jadeja told me that Suraj Palace and all the plots were in her name and that I had no rights over them. She removed me from the property, and I stayed with my brother-in-law’s son for four months,” the FIR added.
The FIR further stated that Chauladevi obtained copies of the original property documents, filed a case for inheritance of the properties in the local court, and left for the UK. In 2025, she filed an application with the collectorate for the 13 properties and filed the police complaint on July 10.
DySP Rutu Raba said Chauladevi submitted documents showing that the Zaveri bungalow (Suraj Palace) was purchased in her name.
She further added, “However, the claim is that Hiralba Jadeja threw her out of this property about one and a half months after Bhura Munja Jadeja’s death in 2016. The SDM who inquired into the application has submitted in his report that Suraj Palace is in the name of Chauladevi, as are six other plots. The other plots are in the names of mother and son (Bharat).”
The police have sought a transfer warrant from the local court to arrest Hiralba Jadeja from the Junagadh jail. Further investigation remains underway.
The seven other cases against Hiralba Jadeja
1. Back in May 2016, photos of Hiralba, Chauladevi’s stepdaughter Geeta, and others toting double-barrel guns went viral on social media. Based on this, then SP Tarunkumar Duggal had ordered an inquiry into the incident. The inquiry concluded that the women flashed the guns during a religious procession on April 12 in Porbandar town. The Kamlabaug police then booked Hiralba, Geeta and others under the Arms Act for displaying the gun at a public event and for violating a notification of the district magistrate.
2. Hiralba Jadeja was booked at the Harbour Marine police station in Porbandar on April 30, 2025, based on a complaint by Bhana Arjan Odedara, 65. She was booked on charges of abduction, extortion, and criminal intimidation among others after Leelu Kuchhadiya, who is in Israel, posted a video claiming that her husband Bhanu and minor son Ranjit had been abducted by Jadeja and others for about 17 days and made to sign several blank cheques, demanding Rs70 lakh from them. On May 1, 2025, Jadeja was arrested and has since been in jail.
3. On May 15, 2025, Hiralba Jadeja was booked along with five others for possession of monetary proceeds of cybercrime stashed in benami bank accounts in the names of casual labourers.
4. The next FIR, registered on May 30, 2025, was for allegedly opening three shell firms in the names of other accused persons, having them run shops in the firms’ names, and opening at least 22 benami bank accounts, of which at least 11 are named as recipients of proceeds of crime in cybercrime complaints across various parts of India.
5. In 2025, Hiralba Jadeja was also booked for cheating and criminal conspiracy at the Bhiwani cybercrime police station in Haryana.
6. The sixth FIR was registered at the Kamlabaug police station on July 21, 2025, where Hiralba Jadeja, was booked under the Gujarat Money Lenders Act for threatening, illegally confining and extorting a family involved in the fishing business, and trapping them in a vicious cycle of debt to the point where they had allegedly paid the Jadeja family more than Rs 4 crore in interest and late payment penalties against a loan of Rs 75 lakh.
7. On November 7, 2025, Hiralba Jadeja was arrested by the Ahmedabad police in an October 26, 2024, case filed by an acupressure therapist named Suraj Navneet Patel against unknown people who had added him to a WhatsApp group called “Motilal Oswal Invest Club” and promised huge returns through investments in the stock market and especially in initial public offerings (IPOs). He claimed to have transferred Rs 31,59,005 lakh in 12 transactions before he realised this was a fraud. The police said they found Rs 50,000 deposited in an IDBI Bank account and Rs 3.25 lakh in an Axis Bank account—both traced to Hiralba Jadeja.
The Gujarat Police have registered a case of forgery, forgery committed for cheating, and criminal conspiracy, among other sections, under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. (File photo for representational use) 
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