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Four arrested for killing, burning, disposing of remains of 19-year-old in Pune
The crime was the result of a minor scuffle, police said.
PUNE: Four men were remanded by a local court in Pimpri on Monday to police custody till June 25 for murder of a 19-year-old and destruction of evidence. The incident took place in March, but the murder came to light when the police were investigating a missing person case lodged by the parents of the deceased.
The deceased was identified as Jasbeersingh alias Billu alias Vicky Gulzarsingh Virdhi (19), a resident of Milindnagar area along River road near Durga Mata Mandir in Pimpri.
The arrested were identified as Niraj alias Dhosa Ashok Jangiyani (26), a resident of Pimpri Main Bazar area; Lalit Lalchand Thakur (21) Kamla Niwas in Pimpri; Yogesh alias Yogi Keshav Panjwani (31) Sanjay Library lane in Pimpri; and Harjotsingh Ranjitsingh Lohit (22) a resident of area near Vaishnav Devi temple in Pimpri, according to the police.
“They all used to smoke marijuana together. The deceased and his elder brother had been in a fight with one of the accused hours before the murder. After that fight, the accused had lodged a complaint and a non-cognisable case was registered against the two Virdhi brothers that night. The fight was for a trivial reason,” said sub-inspector (PSI) DN Nikam of Pimpri police station who is investigating the case.
Upon initial investigation, the four accused confessed to the crime. On March 7 at 11:30pm, the deceased and his brother, Sunny Virdi, had roughed up Jangiyani for reasons that are yet to be known. Jangiyani was hurt on his head. Enraged by the fight, at 12:30am on March 8, Lohit, who was at a paan stall located near Virdhi’s house, dragged the latter to a cowshed owned by Panjwani where the three others were waiting.
On March 19, a missing person’s case was registered at Pimpri police station by Jasbeersingh’s mother Amreen Kaur Virdhi (34), who works as a domestic help and lived with the deceased.
“The accused are habitual drug users. One of them has a history of drug possession case,” said inspector Rajendra Nikalje of Pimpri police station.
According to the complaint, once they reached the cowshed, Jangiyani strangled Jasbeersingh while Thakur held his hands and Panjwani smashed the victim’s head with a stone. After the victim fell on the ground, one of the men hit him on the head again, causing his death. Lohit fled the spot when the three started hitting the 19-year-old.
“The men sourced diesel and poured it on the body covered with dry grass, twigs, and dried cow dung from the cowshed, and burnt it. The body was half charred,” said PI Nikalje.
The three men covered the remains with more dry grass and fled the spot only to return on the next day and wait until the pyre had cooled down, according to an official who is part of the investigation.
“The exact number of days before they threw the body is still unclear,” said PSI Nikam.
After the pyre had cooled down, the ashes were wrapped in a cloth and dropped in a river at Dapodi area. The police are trying to retrieve the remains and probing involvement of more people in the crime.
A case under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code was registered at Pimpri police station.
