Surat Attempted Murder: Husband, Friend Arrested After Wife Shot at Point Blank

A shocking plot hatched over marital discord unravelled in Gujarat's Surat district when Nikunj Goswami enlisted his friend Ishwarpuri Goswami to shoot his wife, Sonal Solanki—a range forest officer—in a brazen assassination attempt on November 6, 2025, police revealed on November 13. The victim, critically injured after a point-blank gunshot to the head, was en route to a nearby village in her car when the assailant forced her to halt at a secluded stretch, fired the fatal shot, and fled on a motorcycle, causing her vehicle to crash into a roadside tree. Initially mistaken for accident-related trauma amid the wreckage, surgeons discovered the lodged bullet during emergency surgery at a Surat hospital, prompting an immediate FIR for attempted murder under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. Superintendent of Police Rajesh Gadhiya confirmed the duo's arrest on November 12 after they surrendered at a Kathor court, following a manhunt involving seven teams and 50 officers that scoured the region for over a week.

The conspiracy stemmed from escalating domestic tensions, with Solanki having previously lodged a complaint against her husband for installing a GPS tracker on her car to monitor her movements—a red flag of possessiveness that police now link to premeditated malice. Goswami confessed during interrogation to orchestrating the hit, admitting he had conducted reconnaissance on his wife's routine route and recruited his accomplice for the execution, promising a share of the spoils in exchange for silencing her amid irreconcilable differences over finances and autonomy. Ishwarpuri, a local with no prior criminal record, shadowed Solanki's vehicle undetected until the opportune moment, exploiting the rural isolation near Olpad taluka, where forest officers like her patrol vast tracts of mangroves and reserved areas. This chilling betrayal not only endangered a public servant dedicated to conservation but also exposed vulnerabilities in personal safety for women in law enforcement roles across Gujarat's hinterlands.

Solanki, in her mid-30s and a decade into her service with the Gujarat Forest Department, underwent multiple surgeries to remove the bullet and stabilise intracranial pressure, remaining in intensive care as of November 14 with a guarded prognosis; doctors report swelling risks but optimism for recovery if infections are contained. Her survival—bolstered by quick first responders who airlifted her from the crash site—has galvanised colleagues, who staged protests outside the Surat Rural Police Station demanding enhanced security protocols for field officers, including panic buttons and spousal background checks. The case draws parallels to rising intimate partner violence in India, where the National Crime Records Bureau logged over 4.45 lakh cases in 2024 alone, with Gujarat witnessing a 12% uptick in rural districts amid economic strains from post-monsoon agrarian shifts. Goswami's prior complaints of harassment, dismissed as mutual, now face scrutiny for overlooked escalation signals.

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Authorities recovered the 9mm pistol used in the attack from a ditch near the scene, traced to an unlicensed dealer in Navsari, alongside the motorcycle abandoned in a sugarcane field, yielding DNA traces that corroborated the confession. Both accused, hailing from middle-class families in Olpad, face charges of criminal conspiracy, attempted murder, and illegal arms possession, with remand extended till November 20 for deeper probes into potential accomplices or financial motives. SP Gadhiya emphasised community vigilance, noting anonymous tips from Solanki's village aided the breakthrough, while counselling sessions for her two young children underscore the ripple effects on families torn by such vendettas. As Solanki fights for life, her ordeal spotlights the shadowy intersections of domestic strife and rural isolation, urging systemic reforms like mandatory mediation for tracker misuse and fortified witness protection.

This incident reverberates beyond Surat, mirroring high-profile spousal attacks like the 2023 Vadodara engineer stabbing, and amplifies calls from women's rights groups for Gujarat's One-Stop Centres to integrate forensic tracking tech. With the duo in custody and Solanki's recovery hanging in balance, the case serves as a grim cautionary tale: in the quiet bylanes of India's green belts, unresolved feuds can erupt into violence, demanding not just arrests but a cultural shift toward empathy and early intervention to safeguard those who guard the wild.

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