Ahmedabad: For 17 years, Sangeeta Marwadi’s family was haunted by one agonising question: who had raped and killed the seven-year-old? The clue may have been lying in the child’s clothes all along, preserved as part of the evidence from the 2009 case. It took a fresh examination of the old evidence for cops to find four strands of hair that could change the course of the investigation.
“In 2024, we reopened the case. One afternoon in Feb 2009, she went to a neighbour’s house to play. The investigation revealed that she had been raped and murdered.
We know who the culprit is, and the DNA results will be the last nail in his coffin,” a senior crime branch officer said. Police have now zeroed in on a man from Sangeeta’s neighbourhood. A DNA test will determine whether the lead becomes a breakthrough. After analysing the crime, we re-examined the seized muddamal, including the victim’s clothes. Her clothes, preserved with different agencies, had hair strands that were sent for DNA analysis. Sangeeta’s father, Bhopaji Marwadi, continued to pursue the case with the help of NGOs. He approached human rights commissions and courts in pursuit of justice for his daughter. The family had also approached Prime Minister’s Office, requesting that the probe be handed over to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Sangeeta lived with her family in a settlement opposite Shreeji High School in Bapunagar. She later left to buy an ice gola from a vendor who stood near an open ground close to her home. When she did not return, her family began searching for her. Three days later, her body was found in a common toilet at another govt school near Shreeji High School.