The Crime Branch of Pune city police on Tuesday arrested six persons, including notorious gang leader Bandu Andekar, his daughter, and two grandsons, in connection with the murder of Ayush Komkar. With these arrests, the total number of persons held in the case has gone up to eight.
On September 5, Ayush was returning home after picking up his younger brother from classes when he was gunned down in the parking lot of his residence. His mother, Kalyani Ganesh Komkar, lodged a complaint, based on which a case was registered against 13 individuals under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Arms Act, Maharashtra Police Act, and the Criminal Law Amendment Act. The investigation is still underway. Ayush was an engineering student at one of the reputed colleges in the city.
The arrested accused have been identified as Suryakant alias Bandu Andekar (70), his daughter Vrundavani Wadekar (40), his grandsons Tushar Wadekar (27) and Swaraj Wadekar (23), all residents of Nana Peth, Pune.
Suryakant Andekar is a known gangster in Pune, having 24 previous cases; he has also served 20 years of imprisonment for the murder of another criminal, Ravindra Malvadkar, in the 1980s.
The accused were apprehended from Mehkar in Buldhana district. Additionally, Aman Yusuf Pathan alias Khan (25), a resident of Nana Peth, and Sujal Rahul Meragu (20) from Bhavani Peth were arrested in Pune.
{{/usCountry}}The accused were apprehended from Mehkar in Buldhana district. Additionally, Aman Yusuf Pathan alias Khan (25), a resident of Nana Peth, and Sujal Rahul Meragu (20) from Bhavani Peth were arrested in Pune.
{{/usCountry}}The search continues for other accused, including Krishna alias Krishnaraj Suryakant Andekar (45), Shivam alias Shubham Udyakant Andekar (31), Abhishek Udyakant Andekar (21), Shivraj Udyakant Andekar (29) from Doke Talim, Pune, and Laxmi Udyakant Andekar (60), all from Nana Peth.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Pankaj Deshmukh said, “Two of our teams were tracking the accused, one operating in Pune and another outside the city. In a late-night operation, the Pune team nabbed Pathan and Meragu, while the team working outside Pune caught Bandu Andekar and his family members. All the accused are being brought to Pune.”
According to Deshmukh, a preliminary probe has revealed that Aman Pathan, Meragu, Yash Patil, and Amit Patole were present at the crime scene. While Aman and Yash opened fire, Patole and Meragu allegedly provided logistical support. “The precise role of Bandu Andekar and his family will be established after detailed interrogation,” he said.
Rejecting the notion that the incident was a gang war, Deshmukh said, “The murder appears to be the outcome of deep-rooted family disputes.”
Police also revealed that the murder of Somnath Gaikwad’s wife and son was being planned as a revenge killing for the murder of former corporator Vanraj Andekar in September 2024. The conspiracy was foiled on August 31 this year in Ambegaon during a joint operation by the Bharti Vidyapeeth police and the Crime Branch. In that operation, Datta Kale was arrested while conducting a recce in Ambegaon Pathar.
During Kale’s interrogation, the names of five accused involved in the recce surfaced — the same individuals who have now been arrested in the Komkar murder case. However, before the police could act against them, Ayush was brutally killed.
On Tuesday evening, all four accused produced in court were brought under heavy police security before Magistrate SR Badave at the Shivajinagar court. They were remanded in police custody till September 15.
Police Inspector Chetan More, in his submission, told the court that several accused in this case, including Krushna Andekar, Swaraj Wadekar, Aman Pathan, Yash Patil, Amit Patole, and Sujal Meragu, were earlier booked at Bharti Vidyapeeth police station for conducting surveillance of their rival gang member Somnath Gaikwad and his associates.
“This shows that the accused had hatched a criminal conspiracy to assert dominance over rivals by plotting to eliminate them. In another case registered at the Samarth police station, Pathan supplied firearms to the group. Hence, their custody is crucial for further investigation,” More said.
Assistant Public Prosecutor Nilima Yadav-Ithape added that weapons, motorcycles, and clothes used in the crime are yet to be recovered. She said custodial interrogation was also necessary to track the whereabouts of the other five absconding accused, establish the exact motive behind Ayush’s murder, and conduct an identification parade.
Defence lawyers Prashant Pawar, Mithun Chavan, and Manoj Mane represented the accused. Chavan argued that Bandu Andekar had no role in the crime and was being falsely implicated.
In his statement, Chavan said, “We have been in custody for the past 10 hours. The complaint itself is false. The complainant, Kalyani, is my daughter, and the deceased Ayush is my grandson. Why would I kill my own grandson? Last year, my son was murdered, and I had lodged the complaint, stating that Kalyani was involved. Now, in retaliation, our entire family is being dragged into this case. If I had to kill someone, I would have targeted my rivals, not my own grandson.”
Chavan also claimed that Ayush’s murder could have been carried out by followers of Vanraj Andekar, a former corporator who enjoyed wide popularity. “The real motive is to send the entire Andekar family to jail,” he said, further pointing out that Datta Kale, arrested for recce, never named Bandu Andekar and was released on notice.