Ahmedabad: For months before the 1992 Farzana Radhanpuri murder case resurfaced, the prime accused, Shamsuddin Khedawala, 61, a taxi driver, allegedly lived under the grip of recurring “disturbing visions.” He spoke of “sights and voices and suffered many sleepless nights.” Clerics were approached and occult rituals performed, yet the ‘visions’ stopped only when police unearthed Farzana’s human remains from beneath a house in Vatva.Crime Branch investigators believe that the claims made by Khedawala, a taxi driver now, likely stemmed from guilt buried deeper than the victim herself. The origins of the case go back 34 years to a domestic dispute. “Shamsuddin Khedawala, who was 30 then, had issues with his wife, Farzana Radhanpuri, over her alleged affairs with other men,” a senior Crime Branch officer said. “She was also working as a sex worker, which he did not approve of. After that, he along with three other accused killed her and buried her.”The crime remained hidden for more than three decades beneath a cemented soak pit in Kutubnagar, Vatva, but the memory of the act reportedly stayed vivid for the accused. “After that, he first experienced the ‘ghost’ of Farzana as the memory of her being killed was troubling him,” the officer noted, linking the visions to a subconscious burden shared by the other accused. As the years brought illness and financial hardship, Khedawala became convinced that his late wife’s “presence” was behind his family’s suffering.Seeking relief, he turned to occult practitioners to deal with the manifestations. “He began taking help from clerics to drive away the visions,” the officer said. “The murmurs of tantrik rituals reached the Crime Branch, after which cops worked on the case for two months and detected the 34-year-old murder.” Investigators excavated the Vatva site in late April, recovering skeletal remains nearly 18 feet below the surface; DNA analysis later confirmed the identity of the remains.On Friday, authorities formally registered an FIR for murder, criminal conspiracy, and destruction of evidence, arresting Khedawala and his elder brother, Iqbal. Two other accused named in the conspiracy have since died. Perhaps the most striking detail, however, is the immediate disappearance of the accused’s visions after the discovery.“After the bones were recovered and the FIR was filed, Shamsuddin began saying that he no longer sees the ghost or hears her voice while alone,” the officer said. “This might be because he has been caught and the case has now been registered.”
