Buldhana/ Burhanpur: What began as a horrifying “honour killing” investigation involving a headless, partially burnt female body found dumped near a riverbank in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district has now taken a dramatic and deeply embarrassing turn for the police, after the woman believed to have been murdered was found alive in Nashik.
The sensational case, which had triggered outrage across Maharashtra and led to the arrest of the woman’s father and brother on charges of murder and destruction of evidence, has now raised serious questions over the investigation conducted by the Maharashtra Police and the identity of the mutilated body recovered from the crime scene.
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May 27- 2026 - Time 10.30Hrs
The mystery began on April 26 when villagers discovered a partially burnt female body lying near a riverbank in Rajura farmland under Jalgaon Jamod police station limits in Buldhana district. The body was severely charred and headless, making identification nearly impossible. Investigators later recovered a human skull nearly 100 metres away from the spot, intensifying suspicions of a brutal murder carried out with an attempt to destroy evidence.
The shocking discovery prompted Buldhana Police to launch an intensive multi-district investigation. Given the gruesome nature of the case, Superintendent of Police Nilesh Tambe handed over the probe to the Local Crime Branch (LCB), which formed multiple teams under the supervision of Police Inspector Sunil Ambolkar.
Investigators scanned missing persons records across Maharashtra and neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, analysed technical surveillance inputs and activated local informant networks. The breakthrough seemingly came on May 9 when police linked the unidentified body to a missing complaint filed at Khaknar Police Station in Madhya Pradesh’s Burhanpur district.
The complaint had been lodged by 55-year-old Bapuram Kalmekar, who claimed his daughter Shivani Bapuram Kalmekar had gone missing on April 25 from Khadki village in Burhanpur district.
As investigators matched timelines and circumstantial details, police concluded that the burnt body was that of Shivani. The probe soon shifted towards what police described as a suspected “honour killing.”
According to the Maharashtra Police investigation, Shivani had married Prakash Bhilavekar, a resident of Amravati district, on April 15. However, police suspected tension within the family over Shivani’s alleged relationship with a cousin even after marriage.
Investigators claimed that during interrogation, Shivani’s father Bapuram and brother Ajay Kalmekar confessed to killing her during a heated argument on April 23. Police alleged that Shivani was beaten to death with a bamboo stick inside her house.
The investigation further claimed that the accused kept the body inside their house for nearly a day before transporting it on a motorcycle over a distance of more than 100 kilometres from Burhanpur district in Madhya Pradesh to Rajura farmland in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district.
Police alleged the duo later burnt the body, severed the head and scattered body parts at different locations to prevent identification. Blood-stained clothes and the bamboo stick allegedly used in the crime were also reportedly recovered from a forested area.
Following these claims, Maharashtra Police arrested both the father and son on charges of murder, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy. The case was projected as a chilling example of a so-called honour killing carried out to protect “family honour.”
However, the entire investigation was thrown into chaos when Madhya Pradesh Police traced Shivani alive.
Khaknar Police Station in-charge Abhishek Jadhav said investigators recently discovered that Shivani was living with Arun Dadu Kalmekar, a labourer working near Nashik in Maharashtra. Arun, who had also been reported missing, was traced along with Shivani.
“Legal formalities including thumb impression verification, panchnama and statements of relatives confirmed that the woman is indeed Shivani Bapuram Kalmekar,” Jadhav stated.
The Madhya Pradesh Police immediately informed Maharashtra authorities that the woman presumed dead in the Buldhana murder case was actually alive.
The revelation has now triggered serious embarrassment for Maharashtra Police, especially after Shivani’s father and brother had already been arrested and accused publicly in connection with the alleged murder.
The development has also raised disturbing unanswered questions: If Shivani is alive, then whose mutilated body was recovered from Rajura farmland? Was the investigation driven by assumptions and circumstantial evidence? And did police prematurely conclude the case without scientific confirmation of the victim’s identity?
Residents in Burhanpur expressed anger over the arrest of Shivani’s father and brother, while Shivani herself appealed for their release.
“I am alive. Nothing wrong has happened to me. My father and brother should be released,” Shivani said after being traced.
Inspector Nitin Patil of Jalgaon Jamod Police Station confirmed that Madhya Pradesh Police informed them about Shivani being alive. “We are verifying the information and have called the woman to record her statement. Further legal procedures are underway,” he said.
The case has now shifted from an alleged honour killing to a major investigative mystery involving a still-unidentified body and possible lapses in identification procedures.
Police are expected to conduct fresh forensic verification, DNA analysis and a re-examination of all evidence collected from the crime scene to establish the true identity of the deceased woman whose charred remains sparked one of the most sensational investigations in recent months.
As investigators scramble to reconstruct the case from scratch, the incident has exposed how quickly a brutal murder narrative can collapse when critical forensic confirmation is missing.
