Sasaram: In a bizarre twist to a 12-year-old alleged murder case, a woman who was declared dead after a body was recovered from a canal in Rohtas in 2014 has been traced alive in Jharkhand’s Garhwa district.The woman, Shakuntala Devi alias Kanti Devi, had gone missing in Aug 2014 along with a relative, her ‘devar’. She had married in 2002 and was living with her husband and his family before she allegedly went missing.On Aug 20, 2014, her brother lodged a complaint at Dehri police station against her husband and in-laws, alleging that she was being harassed for dowry and had left the house. Two days later, on Aug 22, a woman’s body was recovered from a canal near Khanda village under Dehri Muffasil police station.Shakuntala’s brother identified the body as that of his sister and subsequently lodged a murder case against eight people, including her husband and in-laws. Police arrested her husband Arun Mehta, father-in-law Dilip Mehta and brother-in-law Govind Kumar in connection with the case. The three reportedly spent several years in jail. The recovered body was subjected to postmortem, while the local village chowkidar also reportedly identified it.The case took a dramatic turn recently when the family learnt that Shakuntala was alive and living under a different identity in Labhari village under Kandi police station area in Garhwa district. The information was subsequently conveyed to police.A team from Dehri Muffasil police station travelled to Jharkhand and traced the woman. Police said she had changed her name from Shakuntala Devi to Kanti Devi and was living with a local man, Rattu Singh.She was brought back to Rohtas and produced before a court in Sasaram. Police subsequently initiated proceedings against her, alleging that she had falsely implicated her in-laws and had been involved in fraud and criminal conspiracy.The development has left investigators with a key questions: if the body recovered from the canal in 2014 was identified as Shakuntala and subjected to postmortem examination, whose body was it?The case relates to the Balrati Bigha-Dahaur area of Dehri. Shakuntala also has a 22-year-old son, whom she had allegedly left behind when he was a child.Rohtas SP Raj said the family of father-in-law Dilip Mehta had approached him about a week ago and informed him about the matter. He said he ordered an inquiry at his level, following which the woman was traced in Jharkhand and the details of the case came to light.Govind Mehta, Shakuntala’s brother-in-law, alleged that the family had to arrange Rs8 lakh by selling ancestral property to settle the matter with her brother.
