In Drishyam style murder, husband buries wife's body beneath under-construction building in Rajasthan

In what seems to be straight out of the 2015 Bollywood hit Drishyam, the Rajasthan Police found a woman’s body buried under an under-construction building in the Rajkot district of the state. The woman had gone missing from Bhuj in June last year. An investigation led to the woman's husband who we discovered had hatched a devious plan to murder her and conceal her body by burying it under a building, the police said.

Ismail alias Malo Hussain Majothi, the victim Ruksana's husband, married his second wife Nazia from Mumbai in January of 2018. This led to regular arguments between him and Ruksana. Ismail wanted to get rid of Ruksana and sought the help of his cousin Javed Majothi who roped in his friend Sajid Khalifa and Sajid's wife Saima along with one Shabbir Jusab and Altaf Majothi to hatch the crime.

Javed Majothi was arrested from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh earlier this month. Javed told investigators that he was contracted by his cousin Ismail, the victim's husband to murder her. "I stabbed her in Ismail's car and buried her in a plot near Aisha Park with help from Shabbir and Altaf on June 9 of last year," said Javed in his confession.

The seat covers of the car were also burnt to remove any shred of evidence. Ruksana’s body was removed from the spot once the government took over the plot and began an encroachment drive around October of last year, said Javed adding that they dug out Ruksana's body and shifted it to another under-construction building site in Simandhar city.

Based on Javed's confession, Rajasthan police arrested six people, including the victim's husband Ismail. Speaking to Times of India, Inspector General of Police (border range) DB Vaghela said that the victim's mother and brother had also filed an application in Bhuj court in this regard on June 10. He also said that investigators had their doubts about Ismail from the very beginning but carried out the investigation without spooking him into destroying evidence.