Missing filmmaker confirmed dead in plane crash after DNA match; body handed over to kin

Ahmedabad: Filmmaker Mahesh Jirawala, who was reported missing following last week's Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, has died in the catastrophe as confirmed by the DNA matching of samples, a police official said on Saturday.

Jirawala (34), was passing by from the area on his two-wheeler just when the London-bound plane plunged into a hostel complex in Meghaninagar part of Ahmedabad moments after taking off from the city's international airport, he said, adding that his mortal remains were handed over to his family.

A total of 270 people - 241 on board the aircraft and 29 on the ground - were killed in the crash, one of India's worst aviation disasters.

Joint Commissioner of Police, Sector 2, Jaipalsinh Rathore said the DNA test confirmed that Jirawala died in the plane crash, but as his family members were still in disbelief, the police collected and presented other evidence, such as CCTV footage of the road and his burnt scooter, in order to clear their doubts and convince them.

"Jirawala's family took his body on Friday after the DNA test confirmed his identity. His scooter, which was destroyed in the fire, was also recovered from near the crash site. The chassis and engine number also matched with the registration documents of the scooter," he said.

"To clear his family's doubts, we collected CCTV footage of that area to establish that he was indeed using that route for some time. His last mobile location was last traced close to the accident site," the officer added.

Since many of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition or damaged otherwise, authorities are carrying out DNA tests to establish the identity of victims of the horrific tragedy.

Soon after the crash, the mobile phone of Jirawala, a resident of Naroda locality in Ahmedabad, got switched off and he never returned home as he had promised to his wife Hetal.

Talking to reporters, she said her husband, who was also known as Mahesh Kalavadiya, was a filmmaker and used to direct music albums.

On the day of the plane crash, Jirawala went to meet someone at the Law Garden area. At 1.14 pm, he called his wife and told her that his meeting was over and that he was on his way home. However, when he did not return, she called on his number but found it switched off.

After the police were intimated, their investigation found that as per the last location of his mobile phone he was 700 metres away from the crash site.

Hetal earlier said she never believed that her husband would pass from that route and eventually get killed in the crash. While maintaining that he would never use that route to come home, his family submitted the DNA samples to check if he was one of those killed on the ground.