In 2014, a man was called over by police to identify the body of a woman recovered from a canal in Bihar‘s Rohtas district. The man identified it as his sister Shakuntala Devi, who had been missing for several days.

Shakuntala had told her family that she was being harassed by her in-laws over dowry demands. A post-mortem was conducted, a murder case was registered on her brother’s complaint, and Shakuntala’s husband, Arun Mehta, along with other members of his family, spent years facing the consequences of the case, including time in jail and selling ancestral land to “settle the matter”.

Now, more than a decade later, another case has been registered: This time, against Shakuntala herself. According to the allegations, she has committed fraud and criminal conspiracy.

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“About two months ago, Dilip Mehta learnt that his daughter-in-law had been seen in a village in Jharkhand,” said their counsel, advocate Shahnawaz Ahmed.

“Dilip and some others went there. They recognised the woman,” Ahmed said, “But, they were too scared to say anything to her at the time.”

The family, subsequently, approached Rohtas Superintendent of Police (SP) Raj.

After the information was brought to his notice, the officer ordered an inquiry. Police then traced the woman to Labhari village in Garhwa district, under the jurisdiction of Kandi police station, in the neighbouring state.

A new identity, partner

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“She had been living as Kanti Devi, rather than Shakuntala Devi, and was residing with a man identified as Rattu Singh,” an officer said. She was brought back to Rohtas and produced before a court in Sasaram.

“Shakuntala had married Arun Mehta in 2002,” Ahmed said, claiming that there had been “repeated disputes” at the marital home. According to Ahmed, Shakuntala left the house in 2014 without informing the family. Her in-laws searched for her but could not trace her.

“On August 20 that year, her brother approached the police to report her missing,” Ahmed said. What began as a dowry-related complaint against Arun and his family turned into a far more serious criminal case.

“The initial case invoked Section 498A of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) and Sections 3 and 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act,” the lawyer said.

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Two days after the case was registered, a woman’s body was found in a canal near Khanda village under Dehri Muffasil police station. Shakuntala’s brother and a local chowkidar reportedly identified the body as hers. It was sent for post-mortem, and the report was subsequently placed before the court.

Shakuntala’s disappearance had now become a murder case. “Murder-related provisions were subsequently added based on the brother’s statement after the body was found,” Ahmed said.

Arun, his father Dilip and his brother Govind Kumar were among those arrested in connection with the case.

“Arun spent time in jail and later obtained bail, while the proceedings continued,” his counsel said.

The case, however, did not end with the arrests.

A ‘compromise’

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The Mehta family alleged that the “matter” was eventually settled through a compromise.

“Shakuntala’s family sought Rs 8 lakh for the settlement. Dilip Mehta’s roughly three-and-a-half-kattha parcel of ancestral land had to be sold to raise the money,” Ahmed claimed.

Following the compromise, the case eventually came to an end. For years thereafter, the assumption underlying the entire episode remained unchanged: Shakuntala was dead. Until, Dilip received information suggesting that she might well be alive.

The discovery has now reopened the mystery surrounding what had, for years, been treated as a solved murder case in police records.

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“The case is now being investigated from scratch. We are trying to establish whose body was recovered earlier and how it came to be identified as Shakuntala’s. After a proper investigation, we will take appropriate legal action against anyone found to have been involved in any wrongdoing,” an officer said.

Meanwhile, police have also initiated proceedings against Shakuntala, alleging that she had falsely implicated her in-laws and was involved in fraud and criminal conspiracy.

There is another question that needs answering: Why did Shakuntala’s brother identify the body as that of his sister? Also, with Shakuntala being found alive, who did the body that was mistaken for hers actually belong to?