Ahmedabad: “He is away for a year on work,” Jagruti Goswami would allegedly tell family and neighbours when asked about her husband, Shantigiri. The charade continued for nearly seven months until Sunday when Ahmedabad crime branch found out that Jagruti, with her lover Kantilal Sabaria, had killed Shantigiri in Oct 2025 and thrown his body in a canal. The crime, reported from Soladi village in Surendranagar’s Dhrangadhra taluka, was not a heat-of-the-moment incident, investigators said. Jagruti had earlier tried hiring a contract killer to eliminate her truck driver husband. Jagruti and Sabaria were arrested on Sunday.Police said Sabaria was Shantigiri’s friend, and had known Jagruti for over 16 years. Sabaria and Jagruti were allegedly having an affair, which police said was the likely reason for her frequent fights with Shantigiri. Investigation showed that about a year and a half ago, Jagruti had allegedly approached a man named Yunus Memon of Deesa and offered him money to kill her husband.Since Yunus knew Shantigiri personally, he tried counselling him instead. Investigators said Yunus later sent Jagruti a photograph of Shantigiri sleeping and falsely informed her that the “work” had been done. She allegedly paid him Rs 25,000 at Soladi village before realizing that her husband was alive.On Oct 8, 2025, during a quarrel, Shantigiri allegedly assaulted Jagruti, after which she called Sabaria, who lived nearby. When Shantigiri tried to strike her again, Sabaria held him from behind. During the struggle, Shantigiri’s head hit a wall. Sabaria then strangled him while Jagruti pressed a pillow on his face.After the killing, Sabaria allegedly destroyed his friend’s mobile phone and SIM card and hid his body behind a cot inside a room. Late that night, the accused threatened their acquaintance, Dipak alias Munna Rathod, into helping him dispose of the body.Police said Sabaria arranged a car by calling his friend Lalit Patel, claiming he urgently needed it for medical purposes. At around 2.30am, the accused allegedly dragged the body out of the house and loaded it into the vehicle. Dipak drove the van while Sabaria sat beside him. From the canal bridge near Rajpar village on the Dhrangadhra-Surendranagar road, they threw the body into the water below. Police say the corpse got stuck in the bridge’s railings, but Sabaria kicked it into the canal.On Oct 9, 2025, Surendranagar B Division police recovered an unidentified body from the canal and registered an accidental death case. The postmortem report mentioned cardiorespiratory arrest due to drowning and also noted injuries on the back of the head and right elbow.Crime Branch officials later connected intelligence inputs, witness statements with local inquiries they had made, to identify the body as Shantigiri’s. During questioning, both accused confirmed the dead man’s identity, police said.Modus Operandi & Twists In the CaseShantigiri is killed in his own house on Oct 8, 2025. Sabaria strangles him while Jagruti presses a pillow on his faceSabaria destroys the victim’s phone and SIM card and hides the body inside the house for several hoursAn acquaintance is allegedly threatened and forced to help transport the bodyThe body is dumped into a canal near Rajpar village to conceal identity and evidenceEarlier, Jagruti had asked a contract killer to eliminate Shantigiri. The killer, a friend of the victim, lied that the ‘work is done’
