A burnt body and mismatched DNA: How police foiled Gujarat hotelier's plan

The Gujarat police foiled a hotelier's plan to escape his mounting debts, which led him to fake his own death with help from friends and family members in Banaskantha district

In an interesting turn of events in Gujarat's Banaskantha district, a hotelier’s desperate attempt to escape his mounting debts led him to orchestrate a chilling and elaborate insurance scam. 

 

Dalpat Singh Parmar, burdened with financial troubles, staged his own death in a car accident to claim a life insurance payout of Rs 1.26 crore. However, the planned scheme was foiled when police discovered the truth behind the staged death, NDTV reported.

 

According to police, they discovered the charred remains of a car in Vadgam village on Friday, which contained the burned body of an individual. The vehicle was traced back to Parmar, 40, whose family identified the remains as his. However, suspicion grew as forensic analysis revealed discrepancies between the body and Parmar’s family DNA samples.

 

Upon further investigation, authorities learned that Parmar had accumulated significant debts in the process of building a hotel. In an effort to escape his financial woes, he concocted a plan to fake his death in a car accident, with hopes that his family would collect a Rs 1 crore accident cover and an additional Rs 23 lakh insurance payout. Parmar used the help of family members, including his brother, in his plan, the report mentioned.

 

However, the most crucial part of the scheme involved getting a body to pass off as Parmar’s. Late one night, Parmar and his accomplices dug up a body from a nearby cremation ground. The stolen corpse was placed in Parmar’s car, which was then set ablaze to stage the fake accident.

 

When the police confirmed that the body found in the car wasn’t Parmar’s, they turned to CCTV footage from the cremation ground, which showed four individuals moving the body. After questioning, the suspects admitted to stealing the corpse of Ramesh Solanki, a man who had died four months prior, and using it for the plan.

 

Banaskantha police superintendent Akshayraj Makwana confirmed the arrest of three suspects, with Parmar still on the run, the report said.