Ahmedabad: For nine years, Komal Solanki’s death remained buried under a missing-person complaint, an accidental death report and a critical communication gap between two police stations. On Tuesday, the mystery was solved when the city crime branch arrested her husband, for allegedly murdering her and passing it off as a disappearance during the 2017 rath yatra.The accused, 31-year-old tailor Minesh Solanki, had told police that his 20-year-old wife, whom he had married just four months earlier, went missing on June 25, 2017. He lodged a missing-person complaint at Kalupur police station the following day.A few hours after Komal was reported missing, a woman’s body was recovered from the Sabarmati river near the riverfront. An accidental death case was registered at the Sabarmati Riverfront (West) police station. However, with no link established between the missing person complaint and the unidentified body, the deceased remained unnamed. After preserving photographs, police eventually cremated the body as “unclaimed” two weeks later.The breakthrough came nearly nine years later when crime branch officers received a tip-off suggesting that Minesh had confessed to killing his wife while drinking with a friend. Investigators said the accused had hinted that he was haunted by fears that Komal’s “curse” would harm him.The lead prompted a fresh probe. Using technical evidence, witness accounts and intelligence inputs, crime branch officers reconstructed the events of June 25, 2017.According to police, the couple, residents of Kalupur, frequently quarrelled over domestic issues after marriage. Investigators stated that Minesh had already decided to eliminate his wife. On the day of the rath yatra, Minesh allegedly took Komal out under the pretext of an outing. The two spent the day moving through different parts of Ahmedabad before reaching the Sabarmati Riverfront late at night.Police allege that Minesh pushed Komal into the river, causing her death.The victim’s identity was finally established recently when investigators revisited preserved records and photographs. Komal’s father identified her from the images retained by police, allowing officers to formally connect the body recovered from the river with the woman reported missing in Kalupur nine years ago.Following his arrest, Minesh confessed to killing his wife, police said. He was handed over to the Sabarmati Riverfront (West) police station for further investigation.Police records showed that Minesh was previously booked in criminal cases registered in Vadodara, Dariyapur and Gambhoi police stations.
