Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Around a year ago, a 16-year old boy was killed by his cousin for his Rs 100 crore property in Damoh. The police deployed a DNA procedure used by American police to establish the identity of the victim and finally arrest the murder accused, said police on Thursday.
Sharing the details of the case with media persons here on Thursday, Damoh SP Shuritkirti Somwanshi said that in March 2023, 16-year-old Jairaj Patel, son of Laxman Patel, a resident of Pipariya Chhakka, went missing. Later in May, human body remains were found in an agriculture field of Dashrath Patel.
The deceased’s father claimed that the remains recovered were of his son Jairaj. Police in order to establish the identity of the body sent DNA samples to Sagar forensic laboratory and also Chandigarh FSL for the certifications. However, the two FSL reports claimed that the DNA samples of the body remains did not match with the parents of Jairaj. Later it came to fore that Jairaj was a test tube baby and born after being conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF) in 2004.
The SP added that the then ASP Sandeep Mishra had come across a book which mentioned how American police certify parental property and crimes through a specific DNA test. In the book it was mentioned that such DNA matching can be done through the sweat and saliva of the victim with the main source of DNA, the SP elaborated. Taking cue from the book, the police collected samples like whistle, identity card and clothes from the house of Laxman Patel and sent for DNA testing.
This time the DNA report came positive. Once it was established that the deceased was Laxman Patel’s son Jairaj and he was murdered, the next step was to arrest the perpetrator of the crime. As the victim was last seen with his cousin Manvendra Patel (27), police detained him and during interrogation, the youth confessed to his crime.
“Laxman Patel and Manvendra’s father Dashrath Patel are cousins. Laxman owns property worth over Rs 100 crores and Manvendra was keeping an eye on his property. On the ill-fated day, Manvendra took Jairaj to his agriculture field and bludgeoned him to death and after dumping the body underground, and fled away,” said the SP. The police have arrested the accused and have sent him to judicial remand.
