Bollywood filmmaker Mahesh Jirawala missing after Air India plane crash, phone location found 700m away from crash site, wife fears he may be among victims

The family of filmmaker Mahesh Kalawadia, also known professionally as Mahesh Jirawala, has submitted DNA samples to authorities after he went missing on the day of the devastating Air India flight AI-171 crash in Ahmedabad.

The flight crashed into the Meghaninagar-based medical college campus shortly after takeoff on Thursday, killing 241 passengers and crew out of 242 on board, as well as 29 people on the ground.
Kalawadia, a resident of Naroda and known for directing regional music albums, had gone to meet someone near Law Garden that afternoon, according to his wife Hetal. She recalled that her husband had called her at 1:14 p.m. to say his meeting had concluded and that he was heading home.

"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," she told news agency PTI.

"His phone got switched off around 1.40 pm (a minute after the ill-fated flight took off). 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.