What began as a forbidden love story inside a family ended in betrayal, deception and murder, with one shocking twist involving a “contract killer” who allegedly sent a photograph of a sleeping man as proof of murder to collect his payment.

Ahmedabad Crime Branch has arrested a 50-year-old woman and her lover for allegedly murdering her husband, dumping his body in a canal and trying to pass the killing off as an accidental death in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district.

According to investigators, the accused woman, Jagruti Goswami, was first married to Sukhdevgiri Goswami and had two children with him. But her life took a dramatic turn when she allegedly fell in love with her husband’s elder brother, Shantigiri Goswami. Police said Jagruti abandoned her husband and children and eloped with Shantigiri before marrying him and starting a new life in another village.

But the betrayal did not end there.

Shantigiri, a truck driver, often stayed away from home for weeks. During his absence, Jagruti allegedly entered into another affair, this time with a man identified as Kantilal alias Bharat Sabaria. The relationship deepened so much that Kantilal reportedly rented a house next door to the couple so they could continue meeting freely whenever Shantigiri was away on trips.

Police said the lovers soon began seeing Shantigiri as an obstacle and allegedly decided to eliminate him.

The first murder plot, however, took an unbelievable turn.

Investigators revealed that Jagruti and Kantilal allegedly hired a man named Yunis to kill Shantigiri for Rs 25,000. One night, Yunis entered the house intending to carry out the murder, but allegedly lost courage after seeing Shantigiri asleep. Instead of killing him, he quietly took a photograph of the sleeping man and sent it to Jagruti, falsely claiming the murder had been carried out. Believing her husband was dead, Jagruti reportedly paid him the money.

The next morning, when she saw Shantigiri alive inside the house, police said she was stunned.

That failed plot allegedly pushed the lovers to commit the murder themselves.

According to the Crime Branch, Kantilal allegedly strangled Shantigiri while Jagruti pressed a pillow over his face to silence him. After the murder, the body was hidden behind a bed inside the room.

The conspiracy grew darker from there.

Police said Jagruti then sought help from yet another man, Deepak alias Munna, who was also allegedly romantically involved with her. Deepak reportedly arranged a car, and together the trio dumped Shantigiri’s body into a canal in Surendranagar to make it appear as an accidental death.

For months, the accused allegedly lied to neighbours and relatives, claiming Shantigiri had gone away for work as a truck driver, found a new job and changed his phone number.

The mystery remained buried for nearly eight months until Ahmedabad Crime Branch received a tip-off suggesting the death was not accidental. After a two-month investigation involving multiple teams, police uncovered the alleged murder conspiracy and arrested Jagruti and Kantilal.

Police said further action will also be taken against Deepak for helping dispose of the body.

Source: India Today