AHMEDABAD: In a chilling case, straight out of a crime thriller in Gujarat’s Surat district, Sachin area police have cracked what initially looked like a hit-and-run accident but was a cold-blooded murder plotted for insurance money and debt relief. A debt-ridden truck owner, inspired by a TV serial, crushed a friend under his truck to fake his death, in a plan to vanish and start afresh with his wife in another city. On July 14, police discovered the disfigured body of a pedestrian, later identified as Shivkumar alias Maharaj Ramnarayan Mishra on Surat’s Saniya-Khambhasla road. With the victim’s face mangled beyond recognition, the case was initially filed as an accidental death. Police relied on clothing and a mobile phone found on the body to determine the identity and began scanning CCTV footage to trace the vehicle involved. Yet, there was no sign of an accident near the scene. Instead, a tip led police to suspect foul play after locals recalled seeing the supposed deceased with another man on a moped before the “accident.”When officers visited Shiv’s home, his wife Meenadevi’s eerie calm and a question about his ₹2 lakh LIC insurance payout instantly raised suspicion.She showed no grief and casually asked if the claim could be processed, triggering a deeper inquiry. Tracking one missing SIM card from Shiv’s phone and matching it with the truck’s GPS, police noticed that Shiv had travelled to Kadodara-Bardoli Road on the day of the incident. At a petrol pump near Sarvottam Hotel, a sequence of Shiv’s movements was uncovered from fueling up to driving towards Saniya-Khambhasla road, where the murder was executed. As CCTV trails and mobile location data converged, police traced Shiv to Pune. To their shock, the “dead” man was alive. He was arrested along with his friend Monu Gautam. During interrogation, Shiv confessed to the crime.
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