In Part-1 of Rajasthan Crime Files, you read how Lokesh, an Income Tax Officer living in Rajasthan, first talked about the disappearance of his wife Munesh. He kept putting pressure on the police by accusing them of negligence in finding his wife. I asked because of a doubt
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During interrogation, the police had recorded the entire story of the murder in their charge sheet and how the conspiracy was carried out. Despite this, after about 6 years the accused husband was acquitted by the court. According to the defense, the police had left many loopholes in the investigation. Due to this, many allegations could not be proved in the court.
The story of the murder that came to light during the police investigation and what were the reasons for Lokesh’s acquittal? Read in Part 2 of Rajasthan Crime Files…
The first murder story which was recorded in the charge sheet During interrogation, Lokesh told the police that with the help of one of his friends, he had called his wife Munesh from Jaipur to Vadodara in Gujarat. After killing him there, his body was buried in the ground. He had committed this crime to marry his girlfriend. After this, the police arrested Lokesh on the same day.
A police team led by the then trainee IPS officer Kavendra Singh Sagar went to Vadodara along with Lokesh. On April 22, on the instructions of Lokesh, the body of Munesh was recovered by digging the garden ground in Trisha Duplex located in Harni Airport area. Munesh’s body was buried in a corner of the garden by digging a pit about 7 feet deep.
According to the police, Munesh’s body was recovered from this pit.
After burying Munesh’s body in the ground, Lokesh had also poured about 15 kg of salt on it so that the body would decompose quickly. The smell should not spread. Later the pit was filled with soil. Then it was leveled and water was sprinkled so that the soil settled.
After reaching Jaipur on 23 April, the police got the post-mortem of Munesh’s body done at SMS Hospital. The dead body was handed over to his family members. After this, Lokesh’s friend Pravendra was arrested on the night of 23 April. It is alleged that Lokesh had sent Pravendra to Jaipur and called Munesh to Vadodara. With his help, Munesh’s body was disposed of after the murder. Pravendra is a friend of Income Tax Inspector Lokesh and a resident of the same village.
The murder story was composed on filmy lines. During the interrogation of Lokesh and Pravendra by the police, it came to light that Lokesh, a resident of Kathumar in Alwar district, was married to Munesh, a resident of Sinsini village in Bharatpur district, on February 5, 2017. After marriage, she lived with her husband in Vadodara for some time, then came to her in-laws’ house. In between, whenever there was a chance, Lokesh would come to his village or Munesh would go to Vadodara.
Munesh was educated. She wanted to become a teacher. He expressed his desire to Lokesh to stay in Jaipur and prepare. Lokesh had no objection to this wish of Munesh. Lokesh arranged for Munesh to stay in a girls hostel located on D-126 Krishna Marg in Bapu Nagar, Jaipur. Munesh was studying while staying in this hostel.
Police found in their investigation that Lokesh had a girl in his life before his wife Munesh. His affair was still going on. Lokesh wanted to marry his girlfriend. This was not possible from legal-social point of view. She was in danger of losing her job if she married for the second time while working in a government job.
Therefore, Lokesh started plotting to kill Munesh. He also started deciding the answers to every possible question of the police. Lokesh knew that the police would reach him based on the mobile phone location. Therefore, he took every step very carefully in planning and executing Munesh’s murder.
The first reason for doubting the husband is affairs and illicit relations. That’s why he stopped talking to his girlfriend to hide his love story. Bought a new SIM from the ID of a fellow employee. Through this SIM he used to talk only to his girlfriend.
To keep himself away from suspicion, Lokesh got Munesh a scooty in Jaipur a month in advance. He used to call his wife Munesh daily so that he could prove the good relations between them. He needed a partner to carry out his conspiracy. His friend Pravendra used to work in Gujarat only. Lokesh involved him in the conspiracy by promising him a job in the Income Tax Department.
As part of the conspiracy, Pravendra took a house on rent in Trisha Duplex located in Harni Airport area in Vadodara. Lokesh and Pravendra together got laborers to dig a pit about 7 feet deep in a corner of the garden of this house on April 10. To keep the neighbors from getting suspicious, they covered it with a green net.
Lokesh had got his wife Munesh a scooty so that no one would have any suspicion.
Lokesh was so cunning that he wanted to keep his phone location in Vadodara only. After digging the pit, he sent his friend Pravendra from Vadodara to Jaipur the same night. Kept Pravendra’s mobile with himself. Gave him another new mobile and sent him to Jaipur.
As soon as Pravendra reached Jaipur the next day i.e. on 11th April, Lokesh called his wife and said that I am stuck in a case and am in big trouble. My friend has come to Jaipur. You come to Vadodara quickly with him. I tell my friend that he will pick you up from the hostel.
Seeing her husband trapped, Munesh agreed to go with Pravendra. Now, as part of the conspiracy, Pravendra took Munesh’s mobile phone on some pretext and took out its SIM. After removing the SIM of Munesh’s mobile, his last location kept coming to Gandhinagar, Bapunagar and Lalkothi areas in Jaipur. So that the suspicion of the police does not reach Gujarat and Vadodara. On the afternoon of 12th April, Pravendra and Munesh reached the rented house in Vadodara. Lokesh was already present there.
As soon as Munesh went ahead to meet her husband Lokesh, Lokesh strangled her. Pravendra pressed her mouth from behind. Due to this no one even heard Munesh’s screams. After the murder, Lokesh and Pravendra together buried his body in a pre-dug pit.
Created pressure on police after reaching Jaipur Now Lokesh called his father and said that Munesh’s phone was not working. She is not available even in the hostel. File a police report. On the son’s request, the father lodged a missing report of Munesh at Gandhinagar police station the same day.
Next day Lokesh reached Jaipur from Vadodara. Being a complete stranger, he informed the police about the possibility of Munesh being kidnapped. Told that the last conversation with Munesh on mobile was on April 11. At that time she had said that she was going to a friend.
Later, when police searched for Munesh and took out the call details of Lokesh and Munesh’s mobile, it was confirmed that Lokesh had talked to Munesh from Vadodara to Jaipur on April 11. The tower location of Munesh’s mobile was also around Gandhinagar, Bapunagar and Lalkothi in Jaipur. In such a situation, the police was not able to suspect Lokesh. Taking advantage of this, Lokesh started putting pressure on the police so that the police gets entangled in Munesh’s kidnap story.
Till the matter came to light, Lokesh along with his in-laws kept searching for Munesh so that no one had any doubt on him. Meanwhile, Lokesh got his mobile formatted as an excuse that it was hanging. Due to this, his suspicious data and messages were also deleted. But when Munesh’s father became suspicious, he filed a case.
Police’s suspicion on Lokesh deepened when he said during investigation that his phone was formatted. When the police went ahead of his thinking and took out a long-term call recording, his lover and affair were revealed. According to the police charge sheet, Lokesh had confessed to the crime after strict interrogation.
Then why was the accused acquitted? The police made many lapses during the investigation in this case. Lokesh got the benefit of all this in the court trial. The body recovered from the pit was about two weeks old and the police had not even got the DNA test done on that body. Due to this, it could not be proved in the court whether the body was that of Munesh. Ultimately, giving the benefit of doubt, the court acquitted Lokesh on 14 February 2024.
Defense lawyer Purushottam Banwada said that the police did not take DNA from the body which was recovered. In this case, whose dead body was that? This was an unanswered question. At the same time, the police did not even present the statement of the JCB driver and the statement of the SDM in the court. The court admitted that it would not be able to connect the chain of circumstantial evidence. On this basis, giving the benefit of doubt, Lokesh and his partner were acquitted.
At present an appeal against this decision is pending in the High Court. Munesh’s brother Prabhanjan told that he had appealed in the High Court regarding this matter. Which has been accepted, now the hearing is pending.
Read the first part:
Who killed the missing wife of the Income Tax Officer?: Husband alleged – Police careless; Everyone was shocked by the revelation…Part 1
Today in Rajasthan Crime Files a 6 year old sensational case related to Jaipur. There was a period of extreme heat in April. An Income Tax Inspector’s wife mysteriously goes missing from the girls’ hostel…Click to read completely
