Filmmaker Mahesh Jirawala MISSING After Ahmedabad Plane Crash, Wife Claims His Phone Got Switched Off Around Same Time As Mishap

Filmmaker Mahesh Kalawadia, popularly known as Mahesh Jirawala, has been reportedly missing ever since the tragic Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12. His wife, Hetal, is now fearing that he might be amongst those who lost their lives on ground when the plane crashed and has submitted DNA samples to locate her husband.

Besides the death of 241 out of 242 passengers on board the London-bound Air India flight, at least 29 people were also killed on ground when the plane crashed into the hostel of a medical college in Meghaninagar. While the cops are trying to identify the charred bodies of the victims, Mahesh's wife Hetal said that he might be one of those 29 victims.

"My husband called me at 1.14 pm to tell me his meeting is over and that he is on his way home. However, when he did not return, I called up on his phone but it was switched off. After police were intimated, the last location of his mobile phone showed he was 700 metres away from the crash site," Hetal told PTI.

She revealed that Mahesh's phone got switched off around 1:40 pm, a minute after the plane took off at 1:39 pm. "His scooter and mobile phone are missing. All this is unusual since he would never use that route (as per the last location) to come home. We have submitted DNA samples to check if he was one of those killed on the ground due to the crash," Hetal added.

As of Sunday, 47 victims were identified through DNA sampling and the remains of 24 were handed over to their families. The combined death toll of the horrifying plane crash has reached 270. Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, who was also one of the passengers on the flight, passed away in the accident.