The Ahmedabad City Crime Branch announced on Thursday that it had closed a 2022 cold case involving three murders that had taken place in a Kosamba, Surat house, after a husband’s false tip exposed his own involvement.
Madhavdas Bhaktiram Sadhu approached police in early March, claiming that Shantaben Gambhirbhai Vasava had been killed by her granddaughter Urmila (alias Jaya) and a cousin, and that the body was hidden beneath their residence.
Investigators found that Madhavdas had fabricated the accusation to shift blame onto Urmila and her cousin, and that both he and Urmila had orchestrated the killings of Shantaben, her mother Manjulaben, and her sister Bhagwatiben, all of whom had lived in the house for decades.
The pair sealed the victims’ bodies in a barrel with industrial cement, later unsealed and buried the remains in pits on the property – a grim tactic that forensic teams are now excavating.
Both are facing murder charges and a court hearing is set for next month, while police continue to recover evidence from the burial sites.