The crime branch on Tuesday arrested two youths and detained two minors for abducting and murdering a 17-year-old boy from Vishrantwadi on December 29 after allegedly luring him to Katraj to settle an old rivalry.
The victim’s mother, Anita Surendrasing Gachand (44), a resident of Tingrenagar, lodged a missing person complaint with Vishrantwadi police on December 31 after her son, Amansingh (17), left home on the morning of December 29 and did not return.
During the course of the investigation, a police team led by deputy commissioner of police (crime) Nikhil Pingale arrested the accused, identified as Prathamesh Chindu Adhal (19) and Nagesh Balaji Dhabale (19), both residents of Shivane, from Belagavi in Karnataka. Police also detained two minors aged 16 and 17.
Pingale said Amansingh, who was a painter, left home on his scooter saying he was going to work. When he did not return, his family first searched at various places in Pune and approached the police on December 31. Since the victim was a minor, the missing complaint was treated as a kidnapping case.
“We tracked the victim’s movements on December 29 using mobile phone records. His last known location was traced to Katraj,” Pingale said. “The accused used a fake social media profile posing as a girl to contact the victim. The ‘girl’ befriended him online and asked him to meet her at Katraj. The accused abducted him from Katraj and took him to a hilly area in Khed-Shivapur, where they assaulted him with stones and billhooks.”
{{/usCountry}}“We tracked the victim’s movements on December 29 using mobile phone records. His last known location was traced to Katraj,” Pingale said. “The accused used a fake social media profile posing as a girl to contact the victim. The ‘girl’ befriended him online and asked him to meet her at Katraj. The accused abducted him from Katraj and took him to a hilly area in Khed-Shivapur, where they assaulted him with stones and billhooks.”
{{/usCountry}}The accused claimed before the interrogators that the victim had troubled them earlier when he lived in the Shivane area, prompting them to plan the murder as an act of revenge. Pingale said the accused buried the body in the hilly area to destroy evidence. “We have requested the local tehsildar to be present when the body is located and exhumed,” he said, adding that the Gachand family had shifted from Shivane to Tingrenagar around 15 days ago.
The arrested duo was produced before a court on Tuesday, which remanded them to police custody till January 9, while the two minors were sent to an observation home.