Introduction

Snehal Gaware, a resident of Dombivili, Thane

Thane

Thane , is a city in Maharashtra, India, part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, northeastern suburb of Mumbai at the head of the Thane Creek. It is the administrative headquarters of Thane district. On 16 April 1853, G.I.P...

, Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

 was murdered on 20 July 2007 allegedly by her boyfriend Hiren Rathod.

Background

She was studying in the final year of her engineering course at Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Andheri. Her father Hindurao is a private bank employee and mother Kalpana is a school teacher. Her elder sister Sheetal is studying at Nottingham Trent University in the UK.

Murder

Snehal having injured her leg a month earlier had been recuperating at home on Thursday, 20 July 2007 when many of her friends including one, Hiren Rathod called upon her inquiring about her health. In the evening when her mother returned from school, she could not find Snehal at home. She tried to call her on her cell phone but the cell phone was switched off. She even checked up with all her friends, but she was nowhere to be found. She called up her husband and informed him that their daughter was missing. Both of them went to the Ramnagar Police in Dombivli at 6.30 pm and registered a missing person complaint. Her parents, their neighbours and Snehal’s friends, kept searching for her till late night but failed to find any trace of her. On Friday morning, her mother discovered Snehal’s body with her mouth gagged, and her hands and legs tied in the drawer of her bed.

Suspects

Prakash Kawade, Senior Police Inspector of Ramnagar Police Station in Dombivli registered a non-cognizable missing complaint earlier, but changed it to murder under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code

Indian Penal Code

Indian Penal Code is the main criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code, intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. It was drafted in 1860 and came into force in colonial India during the British Raj in 1862...

 after discovery of her body. The cause of death was determined as due to strangulation and suffocation. No valuable article or thing was stolen from the premises, so the intention of robbery was eliminated. Snehal’s mobile phone was missing from her residence since the murder. Her neighbours and college mates Ketan Jawale and Makrand Chaudhary, who live in the same building did not notice any suspicious looking person entering or leaving the building.

Developments

The deceased's cellphone was traced a day after her murder on the basis of IMEI number to a dealer in Fort, Mumbai. The SIM card was destroyed before it was sold. The dealer on interrogation gave description of the person who sold the phone to him. On the basis of the dealer’s clues Snehal's boyfriend, Hiren Rathod was apprehended. Hiren Rathod, a Ghatkopar resident, is an employee of a private firm. He went to the USA for further studies after the murder for a period of 2 years. Police arrested him after he returned in 2011 and charged him under sections 302 and 201 of Indian Penal Code but he was released on bail. The police had sought permission from the Kalyan court judge to conduct narco analysis test but couldn't proceed without the consent of the accused. The crime branch filed an application on 24 January 2011 in the Kalyan court under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, to discharge the accused citing absence of evidence.

External links

1. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=2&contentid=20100427201004270208352876b47cd16
2. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Cops-do-a-U-turn-in-student-murder-case-say-no-proof-against-murder-accused/articleshow/7356643.cms
3. http://www.managementparadise.com/forums/articles/17229-horrified-parents-find-dead-daughter-under-their-bed.html