The Ahmedabad Crime Branch has successfully apprehended the primary suspect, Rameshbhai Danabhai Desai, in a 2010 Vejalpur murder case of Manish Gupta under the jurisdiction of Vejalpur Police Station.
On June 29, 2010, the body of Manish Gupta was found in his rented house, with hands and feet tied and concealed under the kitchen platform. Desai had stripped the body, taped the mouth, wrapped it in cloth and hidden it beneath layers of sand and cement to avoid detection. After committing the crime, Rameshbhai fled the scene, taking Manish’s kinetic moped.
Further investigation later revealed that the victim’s actual name was Manish Sahay.
The police were alerted to the incident by a friend of Manish, leading to the registration of a case under relevant IPC sections for murder. Due to the sensitive nature of the crime, the Ahmedabad Crime Branch undertook a re-investigation, deploying extensive resources to track down leads and finally locate the suspect.
Rameshbhai Desai was eventually tracked down near Ahmedabad, while travelling from Mumbai to Rajasthan. Initially, he attempted to deceive authorities with a false identity, but during questioning, he admitted his true identity. Desai confessed to having been in a same-sex relationship with Manish, which had led to personal disputes. On the day of the murder, the two had a physical altercation following an intimate incident, during which Ramesh attacked Manish with a brick, inflicting fatal injuries.
In an attempt to cover up the crime, Ramesh concealed the body and fled Ahmedabad, initially taking refuge in Surendranagar and later in Dudhraj before heading to Mandla. Fearing capture, he continued to evade authorities, ultimately relocating to Rajasthan, where he lived under a false identity for eight years. During this time, he changed his name, acquired new identity documents, and even secured a life insurance policy under his alias.
In 2017, Desai relocated permanently to Mumbai, where he assumed the role of senior captain at a hotel in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, continuing to live under his false identity until his arrest.
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