3 min readAhmedabadMay 9, 2026 08:13 AM IST
The Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) of Ahmedabad City Police on Friday booked four people, two living and two dead, in connection with the killing of a woman, Farzana Doshu Radhanpuri, in 1992. The body of Farzana alias Shabnam, was found buried in a 14-feet-deep drainage catchpit under a house in Qutubnagar in Vatva area of Ahmedabad on April 29, 2026, more than 34 years after she was allegedly strangled to death.
Of the four accused persons, siblings Shamshuddin Moosaji Khedawala and his elder brother Iqbal Moosaji Khedawala are still alive while two others, now deceased, are Abdulkarim Yakubji Jawrawala Chhipa, a friend of the Khedawala brothers, and Salyabibi Samatkhan Pathan, owner of the house under which Farzana’s remains were found.
The FIR, filed on May 8, on the basis of a complaint by Inspector A P Jebaliya of the Crime Branch on behalf of the State, said that after they received confidential information that the body of a woman was buried under a house, they began their investigations on the basis of a diary entry. Sources however said that the Crime Branch had heard of a family carrying out rituals to rid them of “an apparition or spirit”, triggering suspicions of a violent death.
Investigation led the police to the family that owned house number 10 in Lane 3 of Qutubnagar. While Salyabibi Samatkhan Pathan was dead, she had divided the house into two parts and given one part (containing the body), to her son, and the other part to her divorced daughter.
On April 29, the Crime Branch along with FSL officials and an Executive Magistrate went and dug up a portion of the house, finding human remains including bones, teeth and hair.
These were sent to the Forensic Medicine Department of BJ Medical College which confirmed that these were human remains of a female. The remains were then sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Ahmedabad for DNA analysis. DNA extracted from the bones of the buried body were matched with DNA extracted from the blood of Farzana’s brother and sister, whom the Crime Branch had traced to Mumbai and Dholka respectively.
On May 8, the Crime Branch received a positive match report from the FSL, leading to the filing of the FIR in which there were booked under IPC sections for murder, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy. The police also arrested the Khedawala brothers while an abated summary is likely to be filed against the two deceased accused persons.
