Twelve years after a body pulled from a canal in Bihar was identified as hers and her husband was jailed for her murder, Shakuntala Devi has been found alive in a neighboring state, living under a different name with another man.
Shakuntala disappeared from her home in Rohtas district, Bihar, in 2014. Her family said she had faced harassment from her in-laws over dowry-related issues before she vanished. When an unidentified woman's body was recovered from a canal in the district, Shakuntala's brother identified it as his sister's. Police registered a murder case against her husband, Arun Mehta, and members of his family.
Arun Mehta and some relatives were arrested. They spent years fighting the murder allegations. Reports said the family faced serious financial hardship during the legal battle, including selling ancestral property.
The case took an unexpected turn when Shakuntala was found alive in Jharkhand's Garhwa district. She had been living under the name Kanti Devi with another man. Members of her husband's family spotted her and alerted authorities. Police traced her and confirmed her identity.
The discovery has reopened the original case. Investigators are now looking into the circumstances of her disappearance and the events that followed. A new case has been registered against Shakuntala over allegations including fraud and criminal conspiracy, as police examine whether deception was involved in the events that led to the original murder case.
The case leaves several questions unanswered. The body recovered in 2014 is still unidentified. How it came to be identified as Shakuntala's remains unclear. What Shakuntala did during the 12 years she was believed dead is also under investigation.
For Arun Mehta and his family, the discovery has transformed a case they had fought for years into a new legal battle. Investigators continue to piece together what happened, starting with the body in the canal and the identification that sent an innocent man to prison.
According to Pulse.ng.
