Gujarat: Forest officer strangles wife and two children, hides bodies in pit following dispute

Ahmedabad: A forest officer allegedly strangled his wife and two children, one by one, with a pillow and buried their bodies in a pit he had ordered his subordinates to dig using earth movers and dumpers. The suspect, according to police, showed no "remorse" for the cold blooded murders which was allegedly triggered by family dispute. The wife had insisted on staying with him and their children rather than her mother's home in Surat.

The Bhavnagar police on Monday arrested Shailesh Khambhla, an assistant conservator of forests (ACF), allegedly for murdering his wife Naina, 42, daughter Prutha, 13, and son Bhavya, 8. Police said that Khambhla, a class one officer, had filed a complaint with the police on November 14, claiming that his wife and children were missing.

Kambhla had approached the police station with leaders belonging to his community to "pressurize the police" to find out the whereabouts of his family. However, police became suspicious of him from day one allegedly due to his demeanor. Bhavnagar district superintendent of police Nitish Pandey in a press briefing said that Khambhla "wasn't sad or even agitated the way a person whose family goes missing reacts."

Technical investigation including phone location and CCTV footage didn't show any sign of the victims leaving Bhavnagar. Khambhla had told the police that they had left for Surat where they were staying. Meanwhile, the police got a tip-off that there were suspicious activities near Khambhla's official residence in the forest colony, timing of which coincided with the disappearance.

Police were informed that a pit had been dug a week ago and was subsequently covered reportedly on Khambhla's orders. After confirming with the forest officials involved in the digging, the police reopened the pit from where the bodies were recovered on Sunday.

"The digging, prima facie, looks like part of the premeditated act. Sometime on November 5, the suspect strangled the wife, then the children with a pillow. He then dragged their bodies to the pit, throwing stones on top to prevent the bodies from resurfacing due to the water. He even placed a mattress over them to conceal them further," Pandey told DH.

A day after the murder, as per the statement recorded by a junior forest official and reproduced in the FIR, Khambhla ordered a dumper truck of sand sometime around 8:35 am. Officials came with truck loaded with sand to the forest colony where Khambhla took them to the pit close to his residence.

"Khambhla Saheb himself went behind the dumper near the pit and instructed us not to come closer. He said he had tripped over a snake, which might strike if we went near. He also mentioned that a blue bull had gotten stuck in the pit the previous night, and he had placed a mattress to help the animal escape. After explaining this, he directed the sand from the dumper to cover the pit and, with the help of two laborers he had called, leveled the area," a forest official has been quoted as saying in the FIR.

It says that after learning about the pit and the manner in which it was leveled and covered with sand between November 2 and November 6, the police grew suspicious. Acting on their doubts, they reopened the pit with the help of forensic teams and a dog squad and discovered the decomposed remains of three bodies.

The pit, about 5 feet deep, was dug on November 2, which the police suspect was also part of the plan.