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Murdered advocate’s phone was thrown in an MP-bound truck by assailants
A day after the body was recovered, the police have confirmed the identity of the body found in Tamhini ghat to be of Umesh More, believed to have been murdered on October 1.
The phone of deceased lawyer, Umesh More, was thrown into a truck heading towards Madhya Pradesh, after he was killed, the Pune police said in Monday.
A day after the body was recovered, the police have confirmed the identity of the body found in Tamhini ghat to be of Umesh More, believed to have been murdered on October 1.
The three arrested in the case include a lawyer identified as Rohit Dattatray Shende (32), a resident of Santnagar, Market Yard; and two others, identified as Kapil Vilas Falke (34), resident of Ramdasnagar Audut Housing Society, Chikhali; and Deepak Shivaji Vandekar (28), a resident of Salewad village in Ashti, Beed.
Falke and Vandekar were present in the car which had a fake number plate on it, according to police.
The phone of the deceased was found by the truck driver who switched it on in MP. The other belongings of the deceased, like documents and a bag, were found at a spot close to the charred body.
“We are investigating multiple angles, besides the ACB case, and it is too soon to be speaking about the investigation,” said Sanjay Shinde, additional commissioner of police, Pune.
The murder is suspected to be related to a case of corruption that was registered in 2018 based on the deceased lawyer’s complaint. It had implicated another lawyer who used to be his friend. Arrests were made by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB ) that had led to the arrest of Shende, for working as a middleman for the office of the deputy director (land records), and accepting a bribe of Rs 1.7 crore to get an order in an ongoing land suit.
The land in question is 50,000 square feet located in the Parvati area.
“The body was found around 85-90 km outside of Pune. Very little remained of the body. It was sent for the DNA test. Relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) have been added to the case,” said Suhakar Yadav, assistant commissioner of police, Vishrambaug division, Pune.
While the initial case was registered under Section 365 of IPC, after the recovery of the body, Sections 302 (murder), 201 (destruction of evidence), 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), and 364 (kidnapping with an intent of murder) of IPC have been added.
While one police officer claimed that the body was confirmed based on the history of a surgery on the face, another officer claimed that the body was conclusively found to be More’s after two of the three arrested men confirmed the location of the body during isolated interrogations, unbeknownst to each other. Both the officers chose to remain anonymous while sharing the information.
Three teams of Shivajinagar police station officials, along with crime branch and the cyber crime cell, were working on the case. The three men are in police custody until October 22.
