Man burnt alive by couple to hide elopement

 

By Sumesh Rajan | May 29, 2025

 

Gujarat, INDIA: A 56-year-old Dalit man was allegedly murdered and his body set on fire while dressed in women’s clothing, in a chilling attempt by a woman and her lover to fake her death and elope together.

 

The incident took place in the early hours of Tuesday May 27 in Jakhotra village, Patan district, Gujarat. Local police arrested 22-year-old Geeta Ahir and her alleged partner, Bharat Lubha Ahir, at Palanpur railway station, approximately 177 km away from the crime scene.

 

According to investigators, Geeta’s husband, Suresh Ahir, woke around 4 am on May 27 to the cries of his young son and found his wife missing. As he searched their property, he discovered a partially burnt body in the backyard. The corpse was dressed in an orange and purple ghagra-choli and adorned with silver anklets—clothing and jewellery belonging to Geeta.

 

Initially suspected to be a caste-based killing, the case took a dramatic turn when police identified the deceased as Harji Debha Solanki, a 56-year-old Dalit labourer from Vauva village, about 7 km away.

 

The murder sparked political outrage, with Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani calling for justice via social media, citing it as a possible hate crime amid rising violence against Dalits. However, within 24 hours, police revealed a very different narrative.

 

A Chilling Plan Unfolds

 

Patan Superintendent of Police V K Nayi said the killing was premeditated. "Geeta and Bharat plotted to ‘find a body’ and pass it off as hers so they could flee and start a new life together,” he told local media.

 

The plan involved dressing the victim in Geeta’s clothes and setting the body alight, so her husband would assume she had died by suicide and not pursue her.

 

Police investigations revealed Geeta had been in an extra-marital relationship with Bharat for 3 to 4 months. Bharat allegedly scouted nearby villages for a vulnerable target, eventually luring Harji Solanki, a solitary and physically weak man, into the bushes in Vauva village.

 

After attempting to strangle him, Bharat transported the unconscious Harji to Jakhotra on a motorcycle. Later that night, Geeta and Bharat dressed the victim in her clothes and set him on fire before fleeing the scene.

 

The post-mortem confirmed Harji had been alive when he was set alight.

 

Manhunt and Arrest

 

The Santalpur police launched an intensive investigation after Suresh reported both the discovery of the body and his wife's disappearance. Police circulated images of the victim across nearby villages. In Piprala, a man identified the corpse as his brother Harji.

 

Using mobile phone triangulation and CCTV surveillance, police tracked the suspects to Palanpur railway station around 4 am Wednesday. The pair were found with train tickets to Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Officers from the Patan Local Crime Branch detained and transported them back for formal arrest.

 

According to the police statement, after fleeing Jakhotra, the duo travelled through Santalpur, Radhanpur, and Kanodar before reaching Palanpur station.

 

The police have charged both individuals with murder. Investigations are ongoing to determine whether additional accomplices were involved.