Woman killed beggar to fake death and elope with lover; father mistook her as ghost when she returned

In a shocking case, a 27-year-old married woman in Gujarat's Kutch faked her suicide to elope with her lover, murdering and setting ablaze an old man.

The accused has been identified as Rami Kesariya and Anil Gangal, who were arrested on Saturday, over three months after the crime.

Police told that Rami was unhappy with her marriage. She wanted to marry Anil Gagal, who is also married, but could not do so because of social barriers. So, she believed the only way she and Anil could live together was if she was assumed dead.

The couple conspired Rami’s suicide to elope. Anil found a beggar with no family, strangled him. Rami then sent a WhatsApp video to her family, committing a fake suicide. They burned the old man’s body in a farmland on July 5. Rami left her mobile and footwear near the pyre so that her family would believe she had died by suicide, police said, citing their confessions.

Repenting their sins, Rami, along with Anil, visited her father on September 29 and confessed to the crimes. Initially, he thought that it was his daughter's ghost who was making up the story and later he realized the truth and asked them confess their crime before the police. But the couple fled away.

Her father alerted police, after which Rami and Anil were traced two days ago and arrested.