E-Paper
MPSC rank holder Darshana Pawar was murdered, sates post-mortem report
While police have filed FIR against unidentified persons, they have stepped up the search for Darshana’s friend Rahul Handore who was with her and is missing
The preliminary post-mortem report of 26-year-old Darshana Pawar, who had recently qualified for the state forest services through the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC), states she was murdered, police said on Monday.
Darshana’s body was found on Sunday from the foothills of Raigad fort in Pune district, a week after a missing complaint was filed by her family.
While police have filed FIR against unidentified persons, they have stepped up the search for Darshana’s friend Rahul Handore who was with her and is missing.
According to police, Darshana was originally from Kopargaon in Ahmednagar district. After clearing the MPSC exam, she attended a facilitation event organised by a private coaching institute in Pune on June 9.
The next day, she went on a trek with her friend Handore. However, after she did not receive multiple calls from her parents, the deceased’s father lodged a missing complaint with the Sinhagad Road police station on June 12.
Manoj Pawar, assistant police inspector and investigating officer in the case, said, “We have lodged an FIR under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against unidentified persons. The probe is on.”
Both Pawar and Handore went on a two-wheeler to Rajgad on June 12 and reached the foothills around 6.15 am. Both of them climbed the fort, but around 10 am only Handore alone could be seen coming down the fort in CCTV footage from a nearby hotel.
“We have the CCTV footage but cannot disclose any further. The corpse bore marks on the head and all over the body and as per the findings of the preliminary post-mortem report, it is a case of murder,” Pawar said.
The preliminary post-mortem report revealed that the corpse had sharp cuts over her head and body which had led to her death.
