Santosh Gawade, a resident of Khanapur Taluk in Belagavi District, seeks custody of the remains of his late mother, Rukmini, to conduct her last rites and to bring closure to a devastating chapter of his life, which were discovered three years ago, after his mother went missing and her skeletal remains were found in a deep jungle of Betene, a month later. But he’s run into police and legal procedures.
Santosh’s mother, Rukmini, who worked as a maid in their village Betene in the taluk and also in neighbouring Goa.
On December 29,2021, the 50-year-old woman, went missing following the trouble tied with her husband over family finance matters.
With search yielding no result, Santosh, now 33, filed a complaint with Khanapur Police Station.
On January 28,2022, a coward found skeletal remains of a person in the deep jungles of Betene and the police confirmed that they are of the missing women, and after a DNA test her identity was confirmed.
After hitting the bottom of the barrel for justice, Santosh embraced the life of a recluse becoming full time volunteer with Iskcon-managed Gokuldham in the taluk’s Chikhale three years ago.
Santosh met then superintendent of police Laxman Nimbaragi multiple times, in seek of the skeletal remains of his mother and to address the issue. Acting on Santosh’s request, Laxman Nimbaragi facilitated the disinterred of the body and sent it for DNA Test.
While police refused to hand over his mother’s remains, Santosh wrote a letter to senior police officials, including ADGP Alok Kumar, in January 2024, requesting a thorough investigation and conduct an inquiry into the incident. Following this, SP Bhimashankar Guled conducted an inquiry into the incident.
Her son, Santosh, suspects Rukmini was murdered and the body was dumped in the forest. Santosh told TOI he has also demanded a fair inquiry into the murder ,as he suspects his father of being involved in the murder, after learning that his father allegedly withdrew money from Rukmini’s Bank Account, shortly after her death. His father is said to have had a fight with mother, a day, before she went missing.
SP Guled stated that,” Ruling out handing over the skeletal remains-SP Guled said the remains, once sent for testing in case-becomes a part of the court.”
He also said that,” The complaint can get those remains by approaching the court. We can’t hand them over to him directly”.
The superintendent of police stated that the Khanapur police conducted a thorough investigation into the murder, based on the evidence provided by Santosh Gawade. However, they did not find “any worth in that” as the evidence lacked actionable leads to support his claims.
Ravindra Saini, an environmentalist supporting Santosh Gawade in his fight for justice, said it was “inhuman and brutal” and described the refusal to hand over Rukmini’s skeletal remains to her son for conducting the last rites. He also said that, “It’s nothing but an atrocity”.