The Indian Express ·
Chhattisgarh man found dead in Pune lake with legs tied to stone, one arrested from Delhi
Given the seriousness of the crime, the Pimpri-Chinchwad police crime branch formed teams to investigate different possibilities.
Days after a 26-year-old man from Chhattisgarh working in Pune went missing from his home in Mulshi, his body was found in a lake with his hands and legs tied and his legs tied to a stone. The Pimpri-Chinchwad police have now arrested a 20-year-old man from Delhi and said robbery was the motive behind the murder.
The deceased has been identified as Mahendrakumar Omprakash Banjare (26), a resident of Lavale Gaon Dudhale Vasti in Mulshi. According to the missing-person complaint lodged by his wife Sunita Banjare (22), Mahendrakumar worked as a labourer in the area. Sunita told Bavdhan police that on August 30 around 8 pm, she and her husband were at home when he told her that he was stepping out. He did not return.
After waiting for some time, she began searching for him in the surrounding area and contacted his friends and acquaintances, but could not find him. She subsequently approached the police.
“Our teams searched several places, including Bavdhan, Pirangut, Lavale, Susgaon, Mahalunge and Shivajinagar, as well as Pune railway station, but initially found no clue about his whereabouts. On September 2, while we were searching for him, his body was found in a lake in Dudhale Vasti in Lavale. His hands and legs had been tied and a stone had been tied to his legs before the body was dumped in the water.
Following the recovery, sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to murder and causing disappearance of evidence were added to the case,” said an officer. The post-mortem examination indicated that Banjare was alive when he entered the water, police said.
Given the seriousness of the crime, the Pimpri-Chinchwad police crime branch formed teams to investigate different possibilities. Investigators checked whether the man could have been involved in a dispute while consuming alcohol. CCTV footage from liquor shops in the area was examined, but police did not initially get a useful lead.
The teams also examined CCTV footage from places where Mahendrakumar was last seen and questioned people at labour camps, particularly because the crime scene was in a rural area and CCTV coverage was limited. Police also checked whether he had travelled elsewhere, including searches around Pune railway station and bus stands.
“As the investigation progressed, the technical analysis of available information provided us with a breakthrough. Our investigators learnt that the murder was committed by two labourers from Ghazipur in Delhi, who had subsequently left the area and returned to Delhi,” said Rohidas Pawar, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) for Pimpri Chinchwad police.
A crime branch team immediately travelled to Delhi and began searching for the suspects. “The suspects were not carrying any cellphones. There were no known prior addresses of the them. This made the investigation very challenging. We employed tried and tested methods of canvassing some areas. One of them, identified as Gopal alias Raj Sadhan Biswas (20), was traced to Ghazipur,” said an officer from the probe team.
He was detained and brought to Pimpri-Chinchwad for further investigation and subsequently placed under arrest two days ago. A search continues for the second suspect and a probe team remains deployed in Delhi.
Investigation revealed that robbery was the motive behind the murder. “The deceased had just received his salary and had cash with him. Biswas and his accomplice robbed him of his cash and beat him up. They then tied his hands and tied his legs to stone and threw him in the lake while he was still alive,” said an officer.
