MUMBAI, May 3 -- Nine years after Assistant Police Inspector (API) Ashwini Bidre was murdered and her killer sentenced to life in prison, her family is still struggling to secure Bidre's death certificate. Without this vital document, Bidre's daughter will not be able to claim dues against her death, such as her family pension, provident fund, savings, and life insurance. Bidre's estranged husband, Raju Gore, who doggedly pursued the case ever since Bidre went missing in 2016, has approached various municipal authorities to secure the death certificate, but in vain. After Bidre went missing in 2016, it later transpired that she had been killed, her body dismembered and dumped in the Vasai creek. On April 21, 2025, the sessions court in Panvel sentenced former police inspector Abhay Kurundkar to life in prison for the murder. Bidre's family is now hoping to move on. "I wrote to the Hatkanangale municipal council (in Kolhapur), where she lived with me, and then to the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation, under whose jurisdiction she was killed. I also wrote to the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, where the murder case was registered, and even the Thane Municipal Corporation, where Kurundkar lived, requesting the death certificate," said Gore. He said he had submitted all the requisite forms and documents but was told he had failed to submit a doctor's certificate as per the format prescribed for a death certificate. He was also told by some municipal authorities that the murder had not taken place in their jurisdiction and so they could not help. Gore believes his application has been turned down as Bidre's body was never recovered. "We even wrote to the Navi Mumbai police, seeking their assistance in getting the death certificate, but they did not help," said Gore. "We had signed up for a joint insurance policy for our daughter's higher education. Today, my daughter has started higher education but I am unable to withdraw the money for want of the death certificate," added Gore, who for years regularly travelled from Kolhapur to Navi Mumbai with every development in the case. Under the law, the legal heirs of a missing person who cannot be traced for more than seven years after their disappearance can seek succession rights. But in Bidre's case, the missing persons case registered in 2016 was converted into a murder case in 2017. "It is ironic that her murderer has been convicted and sentenced but the municipal authorities are still unwilling to issue her death certificate," said Gore. On her body never being recovered, Gore blames the police officials who initially refused to pursue the investigation, causing around eight months to elapse between Bidre going missing and the Navi Mumbai police registering a case of murder. In fact, while sentencing Kurundkar, the Panvel sessions court directed the Navi Mumbai police commissioner to investigate the "deliberate lapses" by police personnel during the investigation of the initial complaint reporting the victim missing as well as the investigation into the murder. "I will pursue the matter against the police officers who delayed registering an offence in the matter, due to which we could not find her body," said Gore. As a next step, he plans to attach the court order convicting Kurundkar for Bidre's murder, to a fresh application to the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, for a death certificate. However, he has been told the authorities will probably reject this application as well as the sessions court judgement can be challenged in a higher court. "If my application is turned down, I will challenge the rejection in the Bombay High Court," said Gore....