In an incident that baffled the Bareilly police and stirred an intense investigation, a woman’s claim of gangrape and being shot turned out to be an elaborate ruse. The fabricated story was designed to mislead the judiciary in a pending blackmail case, police revealed.
The Allegation: Kidnapping, Rape, and Gunshot
According to Bareilly’s police chief Manush Parikh, officers received a distress call on the night of March 29, reporting that a woman had been shot near Gandhi Udyan. The next day, her niece filed an official complaint claiming that the woman had been abducted outside a medical store near a city hospital by five men in a black car. She alleged the woman was gang-raped, shot, and later dumped near Gandhi Udyan.
The seriousness of the accusation prompted an immediate citywide manhunt by law enforcement officials.
Medical Report Shatters the Narrative
However, suspicions arose after the medical examination revealed a crucial inconsistency. Doctors found that the bullet inside the woman’s body was not caused by a gunshot. Instead, it had been surgically inserted, with visible surgical scars around the wound site.
Police then reviewed CCTV footage from the area during the supposed time of abduction. Footage clearly showed the woman riding in an auto-rickshaw, debunking the kidnapping narrative.
Motive Behind the Fake Crime
Upon interrogation, the woman—identified as Shamouli—confessed that she staged the entire incident to influence an ongoing legal case. She had previously blackmailed a political representative and his son, and with a court verdict approaching, she attempted to create new “evidence” to turn the case in her favor.
“This plan was her attempt to avoid the court ruling and trap the man again,” said Parikh.
A Bullet, a Coin, and a Quack
Investigations revealed that Shamouli enlisted a hospital employee and a quack from Sanjaynagar to surgically insert the bullet. To make the injury appear real, they used a heated coin to burn the skin, mimicking the typical powder burn of a gunshot wound.
At least three individuals were involved in executing the hoax, and the police have already arrested two of them. Authorities believe more people might have assisted in the conspiracy and are continuing their investigation.
