Indian murder suspect caught after 49 years says: ‘I barely remember it’
- Sitaram Bhatane was 27 when he allegedly killed 70-year-old widow Mani Shukla; each year police went to his village hundreds of miles away, but he was never there
- Then, for an election this month, an inspector asked officers to round up various criminals, and they happened to find a limping, balding, hard-of-hearing Bhatane
An Indian policeman has apparently solved a murder case 49 years after the crime was committed because the alleged murderer made the mistake of returning to his village at the wrong time.
More than a decade before Inspector Pratipalsinh V. Gohil, 37, was even born, his predecessors at the Sardarnagar police station in Gujarat state began investigating the case of 70-year-old Mani Shukla, murdered in her house in the village of Saijpur in 1973. Officers say she fell during a scuffle and died.
The body of the vulnerable widow, who had no children or relatives and rented out rooms to earn money, lay for days before neighbours acted on the foul smell coming from the building.
Witnesses said a man named Sitaram Bhatane, 27, had killed her during a robbery. They said they had seen him enter the house on the day of the crime. Bhatane’s three brothers, who lived with him in the same neighbourhood as the victim, also said he had committed the murder and had been stealing beforehand.
But all efforts by police to find Bhatane failed for almost half a century. Every year, at different times, two officers visited Bhatane’s home village, Rajni, about 600km (372 miles) away in neighbouring Maharashtra state, to see if anyone there knew of his whereabouts.
When his brothers and nephew were around, they said they had not seen Bhatane or had word from him since the murder.
Gohil, who joined the police force in 2010, had heard of the killing and the fact that the perpetrator had effectively got away with it. “I thought there was no chance of us ever finding him. When people die and leads go cold, it is very hard,” he said.
But in October this year, Gujarat police began preparations to ensure the smooth running of a December election for the state assembly. Officers’ activities included rounding up petty criminals or troublemakers who might disrupt voting.
Gohil contacted police in Maharashtra – criminals often operate across the two states’ shared border – and shared a list of names, one of which was Bhatane’s, on the list for decades.
When officers visited his village this time around they were told he had returned a few days earlier, seemingly for the first time. Reports said he had been travelling around northern India, an unmarried loner earning money singing bhajans (devotional songs) and through petty crime. He is also said to have spent a few years in Mumbai.
02:40
Death by dowry? Investigation after bodies of 3 sisters and 2 children found in well
To Bhatane’s shock, he was arrested. “Even I can barely remember it, how on earth are you pursuing it 50 years later?” he is said to have asked the arresting officer.
His identity was confirmed when police checked his voting card.
“Two of his brothers had died but one of them, along with the nephew, came to identify him,” Gohil said. “Had we not visited the village at this particular time [for the election], he could have left and vanished again. We were lucky.”
Bhatane, now 76, hard of hearing, balding, and limping because of a dodgy hip, vaguely recalled murdering the landlady but looked stupefied and confused. Gohil, one of many convinced of Bhatane’s guilt, was shocked that the memory of such a heinous crime could fade.
“He can’t dredge up any details or why or how he killed her. ‘I don’t remember, how can I possibly remember? It was so long ago’, he kept saying. He didn’t feel bad about it at all,” said Gohil.
Death by snakebite: new murder weapon of choice in India
“He remembered the house and location and a bit of a struggle because the victim tried to stop him stealing her things but beyond that, it’s all foggy,” he added.
For Gohil, the satisfaction of being able to close a case that ranks among India’s oldest unsolved cases is immense. “This is why I joined the force,” he said.
Police have filed first information reports – the first step in India’s legal system that can lead to an investigation – against Bhatane on charges of murder and robbery. He is not believed to have any other convictions.
Gohil says when Bhatane is sentenced, he is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars – and the old man is resigned to that fate.
