No body. No DNA. 40+ hostile witnesses: How Gujarat cop got convicted for murdering his live-in partner

In a recent court ruling, Police Inspector AA Desai has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his live-in partner, Sweety Patel, in 2021. The case, which received attention due to the lack of a body and hostile witnesses, centered around a melted Mangalsutra and gold bangles that forensic experts identified as belonging to Sweety.

The court also considered the testimony of Desai's first husband, who lived in Australia and claimed that Sweety had expressed anxiety over the formalization of her relationship with Desai after their divorce.

A key aspect of the case involved the behavior of over 40 witnesses who later turned hostile, including Sweety's brother, Jaydeep Patel, who had initially filed an application supporting the investigation. The prosecution presented 128 witnesses, with the defense arguing that the majority of independent witnesses had become hostile. However, the court considered the testimony of the investigating officer to be unshaken, finding that the recovery of bones and other evidence provided a credible chain of events.

Desai was also convicted for causing disappearance of evidence and fined Rs 2 lakh, while his co-accused, Kiritsinh Jadeja, was sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment for helping dispose of the evidence and fined Rs 2 lakh. Jadeja's bail bonds were subsequently cancelled, and he is now in custody to serve his sentence, while Desai continues to remain in judicial custody throughout the trial.