Surat: Range forest officer Sonal Solanki died of her bullet wound on Tuesday at Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. She was 33 years old. Her body was handed over to her family after a postmortem. The family were to reach Surat with her body late on Tuesday night and her cremation is to be carried out on Wednesday. Police will amend the FIR registered at Kamrej police station to add charge of murder. After her shooting, police arrested Solanki’s husband Nikunj Goswami, an inspector in the Regional Transport Office, and his friend, Ishwarpuri Goswami, when they surrendered at Kathore court. Police have not recovered the pistol used. Police say that on the morning of Nov 6, Ishwarpuri went to the spot and Solanki’s to stop her car by raising his hand. At about 8.30am, Ishwarpuri allegedly shot her in the head. He told investigators he threw the pistol into the Ambika river. The motorcycle he used had been abandoned at Malsej Ghat in Maharashtra. Solanki’s four-year-old son was in the car when she was shot. The car then crashed into a tree. Villagers saw the car and called an ambulance. Solanki, who was posted in the Adajan office of the forest department, was unconscious after the shooting. She was first taken to a hospital in Kamrej and then to PP Savani Hospital in the city. During the medical examination, it emerged that there was a bullet in her head. It was initially presumed that she had been injured in an accident. Doctors surgically removed the bullet, but she remained unconscious ever since. Investigators found the involvement of her estranged husband and Ishwarpuri in the shooting. The investigation revealed that this was a well-planned murder. The accused had planted GPS devices on cars used by Solanki to know her routine. Solanki found a GPS tracker in car, but could not remove the tracker from the other. She was in the second car when she was shot. Solanki had lodged an FIR at Kamrej police station on Nov 3 after finding the GPS tracker while cleaning her car. She expressed suspicion that it was Nikunj who had planted the tracker. Nikunj was not booked as an accused as police did not have evidence against him. His name was mentioned in the FIR as a suspect.In the FIR related to the GPS tracker, Solanki stated that she married Nikunj in 2020, and they later developed differences. She then went to live with her parents in Kamrej. There were multiple court cases ongoing between the couple.
