Satara’s ‘Doctor Death’ confesses to six murders

WAI (SATARA DISTRICT): A 42-year-old self-styled doctor who was arrested on August 11 for the murder of an anganwadi worker has confessed to having killed five more people over the past 13 years, including three in 2016. On Tuesday morning, the police found the remains of five bodies buried in Santosh Pol’s farm and front yard.

HT Image

Pol, a resident of Wai in Maharashtra’s Satara district, was arrested from Mumbai by the Satara police for the kidnap and murder of anganwadi worker Mangala Jedhe. During his interrogation, he told the police that besides Jedhe, he had killed four women and a man, all from the same region, since 2003.

The police’s preliminary investigation has revealed that Pol, who lives with his family, has a bachelor’s degree in electropathy medicine and surgery (BEMS), a course banned by the government a few years ago. Pol worked at a local hospital for eight years but was allegedly fired from his job some time ago.

The police said Pol confessed to the murders of Surekha Kisan Chikane (30), Vanita Gaikwad (32), Gajabai Laxman Pol (40), Nathmal Dhanaji Bhandari (68) and Salma Shaikh (30), besides 50-year-old Jedhe. He said he had buried five of the bodies — four at his farm and one in the courtyard of his house — and disposed of one in a nearby dam. The five bodies were unearthed and the remains sent for DNA analysis and other tests.

Pol admitted he murdered Gajabai, his aunt, after she received money from a land transaction. The police suspect Pol committed the other murders for financial gain as well but are also looking at other possible motives, such as an organ transplant racket, a property dispute or an illicit relationship. They are also looking into whether some of the murders were sexually motivated. Inspector general of police, Kolhapur range, Vishwas Nangare-Patil said the police were exploring all angles but added that financial gain seemed to be primary motive.

The police said all six victims appeared to have one thing in common — lack of family support. A source said Pol may have used anesthesia injections in some of the murders. The police suspect that in at least two cases, he struck the victims on the head with an iron rod, the source added.

Pol told the police that after the murders, he would bring the bodies to his farm in the middle of the night and bury them in a ditch he had dug in advance using an earth-mover.

Investigating officers said Pol went to great lengths to evade arrest. As he travelled to Mumbai after allegedly murdering Jedhe, he asked his associate Jyoti Madre, a nurse, to take Jedhe’s mobile phone and travel between Pune and Kolhapur. “Madre kept calling Jedhe’s family from her mobile phone, hoping they would believe she was alive. Even we initially thought the two had eloped. However, during the investigation, Madre confessed to the crime,” said Sandip Patil, superintendent of police, Satara.

Another officer said Pol even inflicted injuries on himself and claimed the police were torturing him to confess to crimes.