Surat realtor’s suicide: Gujarat HC rejects plea seeking quashing of FIR against woman accused of abetment
Stating that it prima-facie appears that Bhadoriya was “constantly harassing” Ghelani with an “evil design” to usurp his property and money, the HC rejected the plea filed by Bhadoriya seeking quashing of the FIR registered against her at Umra police station in Surat.
4 min readVadodaraUpdated: Mar 26, 2026 05:08 AM IST
The HC judgment states, “This statement makes it very clear that (Bhadoriya) was pressing the deceased for continuing the relationship for which the deceased appeared to be reluctant."
THE GUJARAT High Court (HC) has rejected a petition seeking quashing of FIR against Poonam Bhadoriya – accused in a case of abetment of the alleged suicide of Surat-based builder Tushar Ghelani, who shot himself four days before the wedding of his daughter.
Stating that it prima-facie appears that Bhadoriya was “constantly harassing” Ghelani with an “evil design” to usurp his property and money, the HC rejected the plea filed by Bhadoriya seeking quashing of the FIR registered against her at Umra police station in Surat.
The single judge bench of Justice M R Mengdey of the Gujarat HC considered the submissions of the prosecution and the material facts placed before the court from the primary investigation, while holding that “it would be difficult for the court at this stage to come to the conclusion that the offence alleged in the FIR is not made out against (Bhadoriya)”.
In the submissions before the court, considered in the judgment delivered Monday (made available Wednesday), the prosecution had relied on the statements of the complainant— Ghelani’s daughter, who was to be married in four days from the date of the incident, as well as the statement of Ghelani’s partner Sanjay Faganiya, stating that the deceased had informed them about the “constant harassment” and “threats” he was allegedly receiving from Bhadoriya, with whom “he was in an illicit relationship for 15 years”.
The court considered the submission that a deeper investigation was needed into a January 31 phone conversation between Ghelani and Bhadoriya that lasted “3 minutes and 21 seconds”, in which Bhadoriya allegedly threatened to “create a ruckus at the place of the marriage of his daughter and would humiliate him in the society”. Ghelani allegedly shot himself on February 1, while preparations for his daughter’s wedding were underway. He died at a hospital on February 5.
The court also considered the statement of Bhadoriya’s sister, in which, she claimed that since Ghelani had been ignoring Bhadoriya’s phone calls, her sister had called the deceased at her insistence and told him that Bhadoriya “wanted to be with him and wanted to talk to him”.
The HC judgment states, “This statement makes it very clear that (Bhadoriya) was pressing the deceased for continuing the relationship for which the deceased appeared to be reluctant.”
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Considering the facts put forth before the court by the prosecution, the court stated that “it prima-facie appears that (Bhadoriya)… intended to usurp the property of (Ghelani, who had learnt about) the evil designs of the petitioner, and therefore… had started keeping distance…”
The court also considered the material evidence collected during the investigation so far – two shops transferred by the deceased in the name of the petitioner as well as a total sum of Rs 2.24 crore received by the petitioner and her family as “salaries and profits” from a school, which was run by the deceased, despite not being employed at the school.
The judgment states, “The relationship between (Ghelani and Bhadoriya) was not acceptable to the family members of the deceased… it prima-facie appears that the deceased was receiving constant harassment from the petitioner for continuing the illicit relationship and she also wanted money and property from the deceased and because of the same, the deceased appears to have committed suicide…”
The court dismissed the petition, considering the submission that the investigation of the offence is “still at the nascent stage.”
Aditi Raja is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, stationed in Vadodara, Gujarat, with over 20 years in the field. She has been reporting from the region of Central Gujarat and Narmada district for this newspaper since 2013, which establishes her as a highly Authoritative and Trustworthy source on regional politics, administration, and critical socio-economic and environmental issues.
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