Woman Declared Dead 7 Years Ago Detained by Police While Husband Was In Jail For "Murdering" Her

A woman who was declared dead in India seven years ago was found alive and living with her second husband last week. It came as quite a surprise to her first husband and another man who had been jailed for her murder. The surprise reveal occurred in Dausa, Rajasthan, where the accused killers actually tracked down the missing woman. Read on to find out what happened, and why this perhaps isn't the craziest resolution to a missing-person case in recent years.

According to the Hindustan Times, the woman's father filed a missing-person report in 2015 after she disappeared. Later, when a body was found, the man identified it as his daughter Aarti Devi on the basis of photographs and clothing. No autopsy was conducted and the remains were cremated. In March 2016, three people were charged with Aarti Devi's murder. Two of them, Devi's husband and a friend, were jailed—for 18 months and 9 months, respectively. The local police were given a cash award for bringing the murderers to justice. But the story took a turn when the woman's husband, Sonu Saini, was released.

"The husband, on being released, approached the Mathura police and stated that his wife Aarti Devi had left him within days of the wedding after a fight over property," a police inspector told the Hindustan Times. Both of the men accused of Devi's murder—and who had now served jail time for it—went in search of her. They found her in Dausa, a town in central India, where she was living with her second husband. The inspector said she was detained by the police on Sunday.

This isn't the only missing person's case worthy of a soap opera to be reported in India recently. In July, India Today reported that a missing woman who disappeared on her second wedding anniversary was found safe with a lover.  Authorities searched for her at sea for two days, the news outlet reported, enlisting three Indian Navy ships and a helicopter. "The lady has cheated all of us, wasting our time and energy," a senior police official said.

And in June 2021, a woman who had been missing for 11 years was found living secretly with her romantic companion. Their hiding place: next door to her family's home in Kerala, India, from which she disappeared at age 18. "The couple's secrecy regarding their relationship stemmed from their differing religious backgrounds: they reportedly feared the response they would receive if they were to take their relationship public," Newsweek reported.

Proving that duplicitous disappearances know no boundaries, The Sun reported that in 2018, a Scottish man who was reported missing by his partner of 27 years was found in Utah, married to a woman he had romanced on Facebook.  "Malcolm and Cheryl are childhood sweethearts. They've been together for over 20 years — they met at school. They have two kids and seemed like the perfect family," a friend told the news outlet. "But all of a sudden he just upped and left. It's crazy what's happened. They just don't know what has gotten into him — it's just so out of character."