Vanshika Murder Case

25 August, 2022, Thursday, Mumbai, Andheri: A 15 years old school going girl Vanshika Rathod was stabbed to death by her jilted lover Santosh Makwana and his accomplice, his best friend, Vishal Anbhava. She was stabbed 15 times.

The deceased teenager had met Santosh Makwana on social media and their friendship grew into a full blossomed love in the due course. The duo then began to meet secretly at the home of his best friend Vishal Anbhava. Once the family of the girl spotted the duo together and scolded and beat him badly. He was taken to the police station where he pleaded that his career would be ruined if a case was registered. The police compromised between the accused and family of Vanshika Rathod. He promised tn stop stalking Vanshika Rathod thenceforth.

Santosh Makwana felt insulted and injured about the incident. Her family had stopped Vanshika Rathod from meeting him. Frustrated he asked the girl to meet him once last time. The girl agreed to meet him at their usual meeting spot emphasising that it was to be the last time.

In the last meeting Santosh Makwana tried to convince the girl that they could continue meeting secretly without the knowledge of her family. The girl denied. Then he tried to convince her to elope against the will of her family. The girl then asserted emphatically that she won't go against the will of her family. And won't be doing anything that would hurt them. It led to a heated exchange of arguments between them.

Santosh Makwana then pulled out a knife and began to stab her. His friend Vishal Anbhava reached the duo from other room and held the girl tight to make her vulnerable. Ashok Makwana stabbed the girl till she was dead. The duo then changed her school uniform to Vishal Anbhava's clothes and put the dead body together with her school uniform in a suitcase and threw it in the forest Preira Nagar, Naigaon. Two days later residets of the Preira Nagar got suspicious about the suitcase lying in a secluded and desolated spot for the past two days. They called the police informing them about the suitcase. The police arrived and recovered the stuffs from the suitcase. Waliv police registered the case of murder against unknown person. The police checked for the CCTV camera footages and found that Santosh Makwana and his best friend Vishal Anbhava were carrying the suitcase.

The culprit duo had escaped after committing the crime and had switched off their mobile en route. Family of Vanshika Rathod tried to contact Santosh Makwana after Vanshika Rathod failed to return from her school but in vain. 

The Naigaon police reached the school name mentioned on the uniform recovered from the suitcase. From all the probbabilities and possibilities the uniform appeared and was believed to belong to the deceased. The school was already aware of the missing pupil because her parents had already contacted the school and had launched a police complaint thereafter. They provided the police about the information of the missing pupil Vanshika Rathod. The police contacted her family which in turn blamed Santosh Makwana and his best friend Vishal Anbhava for the crime. The family provided the police with the contact details of the prime accused Santosh Makwana. Police had put the mobile number on surveillance. A few days later Santosh Makwana had switched on his mobile for just 10 seconds at 5:42 a.m.. Which denoted his location at the Ahmedabad railway station in Gujarat.

Mumbai Police searched through the CCTV camera footages of Ahmedabad railway station as well as of lodges and hotels around the station. But seemed to be nobody bearing the similarities of the culprit duo. Then the Mumbai Police dwell upon the thought that perhaps they didn't get down the train. Instead the mobile was switched on while the duo were still aboard the train. Therefore the Mumbai Police searched for the train which would arrived and halted at Ahmedabad railway station at 5:42 a.m.. They found that a Bangaluru - Rajasthan train arrives and halts at the Ahmedabad railway station at 5;42 a.m.. The police team then analysed the possible boarding point of the duo and they concluded that it could be Vasai railway station. They checked the CCTV camera footages and found the images of the culprit duo. 

The Mumbai Police then asked its counterparts en route Ahmedabad - Rajasthan where te train has its halts to check and confirm about the culprit duo. But their attempts ended in the vain. Then the Mumbai Police went on to map the possible destination of the duo. It could be any relative of any of the two. Upon inquiring it was found that the grandmother of Santosh Makwana lived a few stations away from Ahmedabad in Palanpur a few kilometres from where their mobile was switched on. 

The Mumbai Police team arrived at the place of his grandmother. But his grandmother denied any knowledge about Santosh Makwana. However the police team had adjuged from her body language that seh hiding something. So they decided to visit her house once again, the next day. Once again the duo weren't found there and his grandmother was as usual in simple and plain denial. The police team had to return empty handed once again. Despite the fact that they were convinced that she was hiding something in the matter, the police team was planning to leave Palanpur. Just then they received an unidentified call. The person calling had assured to the police team that he had seen himself the two persons with the matching description at the house of the old lady. Upon inquiring the person described that he had a property dispute with the old lady. The police team decided to raid the house of the old lady one last time. Fortunately the police team could nab the duo in person this time. And the duo was brought to Mumbai for conviction and prosecution.