Fake Death! Gujarat Police Finds A Burned Body In Car, Clues Hint At A Hotelier's Grisly Plan To Clear Debts

A hotelier in Gujarat's Banaskantha district attempted to fake his own death in a car accident to claim life insurance worth Rs 1.26 crore. The plan, however, was thwarted by the police. Dalpat Singh Parmar, the mastermind, is currently evading capture while three of his accomplices have been apprehended.

Police discovered a burnt car with charred human remains inside in Vadgam village on Friday. The vehicle's registration number led them to Dalpat Singh Parmar, aged 40. Although his family identified the body as Parmar's, police were suspicious. Forensic tests later confirmed that the remains did not match samples from Parmar's family members.

Insurance Fraud Scheme Uncovered

Investigations revealed that Parmar had accumulated significant debts from building a hotel. To escape this financial burden, he devised a plan to fake his death in an accident. This would allow his family to claim Rs 1 crore from accident cover and an additional Rs 23 lakh from insurance. His plan involved going into hiding until the payout was received.

Parmar enlisted the help of relatives, including his brother, to execute this scheme. The challenge was finding a body that could be mistaken for his own. They decided to steal a corpse from a nearby cremation ground where some Hindu sects bury their dead instead of cremating them.

Body Theft and Staged Accident

Late at night, four individuals, including Parmar, entered the cremation ground and exhumed a body buried four months earlier. They placed this corpse in Parmar's car and set it ablaze to stage the accident and fake his death.

The police faced a critical question: whose body was actually in the car? CCTV footage from the village cremation ground showed four men moving a body at night. Upon interrogation, those seen in the video confessed to placing the exhumed corpse into Parmar's car and setting it on fire.

Identification of Stolen Body

The stolen body was later identified as Ramesh Solanki's, who had died four months prior. Banaskantha police superintendent Akshayraj Makwana informed the media about the conspiracy involving Parmar and others stealing Solanki's body for insurance fraud purposes.

"Four accused were part of the conspiracy," said Makwana. "Three have been arrested and we are looking for the main accused."