An FIR and arrest of the suspects now depends on whether the police find any remains, finding them positive as human remains and then conducting DNA profiling to confirm those as Jignesh's body. Further investigation is underway, police said.
THE JAMNAGAR Police on Wednesday evening was hard at work manually digging through a layer of concrete and then 12 feet of soil – looking for the body of a man who disappeared two years ago and whose wife claimed he had “immigrated to Australia”.
On July 26, the police received an application from the siblings of one Jignesh, alleging that his wife had “killed him and admitted to the same.”
The investigation, led by Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Pratibha of Lalpur division, brought the woman in for questioning as well as her alleged lover. The suspicion was that these two had conspired, killed Jignesh and buried the body under a factory in Dared GIDC, an industrial area around 10 km from Jamnagar City.
ASP Pratibha told The Indian Express that the police had questioned the woman and her alleged lover over two days and claimed that they admitted to having committed the crime in May 2024 and burying Jignesh’s body in a 12-feet-deep pit inside an empty factory that Jignesh and the suspect lover had taken on lease back then.
However, after Jignesh’s body was buried there, the suspect let go of the factory lease and it has since been leased to a metal works company for whom Wednesday was a routine day until the police arrived, moved their machinery and began digging through their factory floor.
Meanwhile, ASP Pratibha said Jignesh’s family had alleged that his wife had kept telling them that he had gone to Australia for work and kept saying that he was not allowed to use his phone.
Till late evening on Wednesday, labourers contracted by the police were still at work and had drilled through a foot of solid concrete and were digging through the soil manually because there is no space for heavy machinery such as a bulldozer to enter the premises.
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An FIR and arrest of the suspects now depends on whether the police find any remains, finding them positive as human remains and then conducting DNA profiling to confirm those as Jignesh’s body. Further investigation is underway, police said.
Brendan Dabhi works with The Indian Express, focusing his comprehensive reporting primarily on Gujarat. He covers the region's most critical social, legal, and administrative sectors, notably specializing at the intersection of health, social justice, and disasters.
Expertise
Health and Public Policy: He has deep expertise in healthcare issues, including rare diseases, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), the complex logistics of organ transplants, and public health challenges like drug-resistant TB and heat health surveillance. His on-ground reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and Mucormycosis was critical in exposing healthcare challenges faced by marginalized communities in Gujarat.
Social Justice and Legal Administration: He reports on the functioning of the legal and police system, including the impact of judicial philosophy, forensics and crucial administrative reforms (. He covers major surveillance and crackdown exercises by the Gujarat police and security on the international border.
Disaster and Crisis Management: His work closely tracks how government and civic bodies respond to large-scale crises, providing essential coverage on the human and administrative fallout of disasters including cyclones, floods, conflict, major fires and reported extensively on the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad.
Civic Infrastructure and Governance: Provides timely reports on critical civic failures, including large scale infrastructure projects by the railways and civic bodies, as well as the enforcement of municipal regulations and their impact on residents and heritage. ... Read More
