Woman Declared Dead By Police Walks Into Station Alive After a Month

A 26-year-old woman who had been declared dead by Maharashtra Police and whose father and brother were arrested on murder charges has been found alive nearly a month after she went missing. The woman, identified as Shivani Kalmekar, appeared at the Jalgaon-Jamod police station on Thursday to record her statement, triggering serious questions over the investigation carried out by authorities.

Shivani had reportedly gone missing in April from the Khaknar area of Burhanpur district in neighboring Madhya Pradesh. According to officials, both Shivani’s family and the family of Arun Dadu Kalmekar, a 24-year-old man also reported missing, had filed complaints earlier this month after the pair disappeared from Khadki village. Police initially treated the matter as a missing persons case while searches continued in both states.

In the first week of May, Maharashtra Police recovered the headless and partially charred body of an unidentified woman near Rajura Dam under the jurisdiction of the Jalgaon-Jamod police station in Buldhana district. Investigators subsequently identified the body as Shivani’s and arrested her father, Bapuram Kalmekar, and brother, Ajay Kalmekar, accusing them of murdering her. The arrests drew attention in the region due to the seriousness of the allegations and the disturbing condition in which the body was found.

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However, fresh investigations by Madhya Pradesh’s Khaknar police later revealed that Shivani was alive and staying in Maharashtra with Arun, who had reportedly been working as a laborer near Nashik. Police officials said the couple was successfully traced during the inquiry. Shivani later visited the Jalgaon-Jamod police station in person, effectively overturning the earlier murder case and exposing major lapses in the identification process followed by investigators.

The development has sparked criticism of the Maharashtra Police investigation, particularly because officials allegedly failed to conduct a DNA test before identifying the recovered body as Shivani’s. Residents in Burhanpur have expressed anger over the arrest of her father and brother, questioning how police could proceed with murder charges without conclusive forensic verification. The case has also raised wider concerns regarding investigative standards in cases involving unidentified bodies.

Speaking to police, Shivani reportedly stated that she was safe and that no harm had come to her. She urged authorities to release her father and brother, who remain caught in the fallout of the mistaken identity case. Inspector Nitin Patil of the Jalgaon-Jamod police station said Khaknar police had informed Maharashtra authorities on Wednesday that Shivani had been located alive. Officials are now expected to review the investigation and determine the identity of the unidentified woman whose body was recovered earlier this month.

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