After an exhaustive search operation spanning over three weeks, the city police have called off their search to locate the body of Sana Khan in Madhya Pradesh. The operation came to an end on Thursday. The city police team returned to Nagpur without any success in its search for clues about Sana’s body, which was believed to be in the vicinity of Narmada river. Sana Khan’s disappearance and subsequent murder on August 2 sparked an intense investigation by the city police. She had reportedly visited the residence of her estranged husband, Pappu alias Amit Sahu, in Jabalpur, where a violent confrontation led to her murder. The police launched the search operation on August 5 after a missing complaint was filed and subsequently registered a murder case.

 

Pappu and his accomplice Ramesh Singh were taken into custody in connection with the murder of Sana, a 34-year-old functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Minority Cell from Awasthi Nagar. The police launched an extensive search operation in the areas around Hindan and Narmada rivers, acting on the information provided by the arrested accused. The accused had reportedly told the police that the body was tossed in the river and her bag was kept near a bridge. The police were unable to locate Sana’s body, although they recovered her bag. During the search operation, the police even got the water flow from the Narmada river's dam stopped for a while, but this approach did not yield any results. The city police collaborated with State Disaster Relief Force (SDRF) of Madhya Pradesh during the search operation, but this alliance also failed to provide any breakthrough.

 

The situation took a new turn when the body of a woman was discovered in a well roughly 300 kilometres away from Jabalpur. However, Sana’s family members denied that the body was hers. The recovery of Sana Khan’s body is a vital factor in building the murder case agianst the accused. Without the discovery of her body, according to legal experts, the case may not hold in court. A retired police official emphasised the importance of this aspect, underscoring the significance of evidence in criminal proceedings. Presently, the prime accused Pappu Sahu, Ramesh Singh, Dharmendra Yadav, Rabbu Chacha alias Ravinshankar Yadav, and Kamlesh Patel, remain in police custody as the investigation continues. The unsuccessful conclusion of the search operation marks a setback to the investigation.