A murder case in Gujarat that began with a woman suddenly disappearing has ended with a life sentence for a police inspector, despite investigators never recovering an intact body.
Police Inspector A.A. Desai, who was accused of killing his live-in partner Sweety Patel in 2021, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the 8th Additional Sessions Court at Vadodara in Karjan. His alleged associate, hotelier and politician Kiritsinh Jadeja, has been sentenced to five years in prison for helping dispose of the evidence.
The case presented a major challenge for investigators and the court. The remains recovered from an abandoned hotel compound near Vadodara had been burned so badly that DNA testing could not establish the victim’s identity.
Yet the court found the overall chain of circumstantial evidence strong enough to prove the murder.
A relationship kept hidden
According to the prosecution’s case, Sweety had previously been married twice. She later entered into a relationship with Desai and, in 2017, the two married in a small temple ceremony in the presence of a few people.
Desai, however, was already married to another woman in Ahmedabad and had a daughter with her. The court records state that his family and socially recognised wife were not told about Sweety.
Sweety later lived with Desai in Vadodara. The couple had a son in 2019.
The prosecution said Sweety wanted Desai to formally recognise their relationship and divorce his other wife. Investigators alleged that this issue became a source of tension between the two.
The night Sweety disappeared
The prosecution’s case centred on the night of June 4-5, 2021. It alleged that an argument took place inside the couple’s home and that Desai strangled Sweety.
Investigators said he then took her body in a private Jeep to an abandoned hotel compound at Atali village, owned by Jadeja, and burned the remains there.
Six days later, on June 11, Desai filed a missing-person complaint about Sweety.
The investigation initially made little progress. The case was later transferred to the Crime Branch on the orders of the Director General of Police.
The clues left behind
With no intact body, investigators had to build the case through a series of separate clues. One important piece of evidence was Desai’s own admission that Sweety had been with him around midnight.
Investigators also found several unusual circumstances surrounding her disappearance.
Her mobile phone, which she used frequently, had remained at home. Desai, despite being a trained police officer, did not immediately search for her in the manner investigators expected.
A black Compass Jeep was also found parked unusually in reverse inside Desai’s house compound the morning after Sweety disappeared.
Police later examined mobile-phone and cell-tower records. The data placed Desai and Jadeja at Atali on the evening of June 5, where investigators believed the remains had been burned.
Burnt bones could not provide DNA
During searches at the abandoned hotel compound, investigators recovered burnt human bones, ash and a torn nightgown.
But the remains had been burned so severely that forensic experts could not obtain a usable DNA profile.
A DNA comparison involving Sweety’s young son also failed to establish a match with the recovered bone fragments. That could have created a major problem for the prosecution.
Instead, investigators relied on another forensic clue. The melted mangalsutra and gold bangles.
Among the material recovered from the site were melted gold ornaments, including a mangalsutra and gold bangles.
Forensic experts compared the ornaments with photographs of Sweety wearing similar jewellery and found them recognisable.
The court treated this evidence as significant, particularly because the body itself could not be scientifically identified through DNA.
The jewellery became one of the important links connecting the burnt remains to Sweety.
A witness from her past becomes important
Another important part of the prosecution’s case came from Hetash Pandya, Sweety’s first husband, who was living in Australia.
Pandya told the court that Sweety had spoken to him years after their divorce about her relationship with Desai. According to his testimony, she was worried that Desai would never formally recognise their relationship.
The court found this testimony credible, particularly because Pandya was not part of the immediate family members who later turned hostile. Their son Ridham also testified about what Sweety had shared.
More than 40 witnesses turned hostile
The prosecution examined 128 witnesses during the trial.
However, more than 40 witnesses turned hostile, including Sweety’s brother Jaydeep Patel, who was also the original complainant.
Jaydeep had initially made serious allegations against Desai and supported the investigation. But he later changed his position during the trial.
His wife Manisha also turned hostile.
Sweety’s step-brother Bhavdeep, whose earlier statement before a magistrate had referred to an alleged confession by Desai regarding a fight over the couple’s unregistered marriage, also retracted his statement.
Several independent witnesses connected with seizure panchnamas also did not support the prosecution in court.
Court says hostile witnesses did not destroy the case
Despite the large number of hostile witnesses, the court held that this alone was not enough to reject the prosecution’s evidence.
The judge relied on the testimony of the investigating officer and other evidence collected during the investigation.
The court also noted that Sweety’s brother had initially supported the investigation and made serious allegations against Desai before later changing his position.
According to the judgment, this change was considered an important circumstance indicating that the complainant may have turned hostile under Desai’s influence.
The phone trail and the abandoned hotel
The court ultimately looked at the evidence as one connected chain rather than relying on a single witness. The chain included:
Sweety being with Desai around midnight.
Desai’s failure to immediately search for her despite her disappearance.
Her mobile phone being left behind at home.
The unusual position of Desai’s Jeep the following morning.
Desai’s connection to the abandoned hotel through Jadeja.
Cell-tower and call-detail records placing Desai and Jadeja at Atali.
Burnt human bones and other material recovered from the site.
The melted gold ornaments linked by forensic examination to photographs of Sweety.
Evidence that Sweety had been worried about Desai’s refusal to formally recognise their relationship.
A friend of Desai, Pratik Dugrana, telling the court that Desai contacted him the morning after Sweety disappeared and asked him to help move clothes and belongings from the house under the pretext of shifting.
Taken together, the court concluded that these circumstances were not a coincidence.
Murder conviction without recovery of an intact body
One of the most important questions in the case was whether a person could be convicted of murder without recovering an identifiable body.
The court relied on the legal principle that recovery of a body is not always essential for a murder conviction. Death can be established through direct or circumstantial evidence when the overall evidence proves the crime.
In this case, the court accepted the prosecution’s argument that the severely burnt remains, forensic evidence, jewellery, phone records, movements and witness testimony formed a consistent chain.
Desai gets life imprisonment, Jadeja five years
In its 72-page order, the court convicted Desai of murder and causing disappearance of evidence. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 2 lakh.
Jadeja was convicted for helping dispose of the evidence and sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment, along with a Rs 2 lakh fine.
Jadeja’s bail bonds were cancelled and he was taken into custody to serve his sentence. Desai, who was arrested on July 25, 2021, has remained in judicial custody throughout the trial.
The court rejected the defence request for the minimum punishment and also rejected the prosecution’s plea seeking the maximum punishment for both accused.
Sweety’s documents to be handed to her son
The court ordered that valuables among the seized articles be forfeited to the state. Sweety’s original documents, including her passport, are to be handed over to her son Ridham.
The judgment also directs that the order be communicated to Pandya, who lives in Australia, and to Ridham.
The order does not specify the current custody or whereabouts of Sweety’s younger son, whom she had with Desai. The case record states that the child was taken from Karjan by Sweety’s brother’s family after she went missing in 2021.
A case built on circumstances
The Sweety Patel case ultimately turned on evidence that survived even after much of the physical evidence had been destroyed.
There was no intact body, DNA could not identify the burnt remains, and a large number of witnesses changed their statements.
But the court found that the remaining evidence — from the jewellery and burnt remains to phone records, vehicle movements, witness testimony and Desai’s conduct after Sweety disappeared — formed a sufficiently strong chain to establish the prosecution’s case.
After more than five years, the court has now delivered its verdict: life imprisonment for Desai and five years in prison for Jadeja.
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