E-Paper
Real estate agent kills homeless man, portrays death as his own to evade debt
The arrested agent was identified as Mehboob Dastagir Shaikh, a resident of Rajwadenagar in Kalewadi in Pimpri-Chinchwad
The Pimpri-Chinchwad police arrested a real estate agent for killing a homeless man and portraying the half-burnt body as his own to evade paying the debt worth multiple crores, according to police.
The arrested agent was identified as Mehboob Dastagir Shaikh, a resident of Rajwadenagar in Kalewadi in Pimpri-Chinchwad.
A body was found in an open ground along the Bangalore-Mumbai highway stretch in Hinjewadi at 11am on November 29.
The investigation began with identification of the unknown body,
After following his last known whereabouts, the identity of the deceased man was found to be Sandeep Pundalik Mainkar, a resident of Mhada Society in Sant Tukaram Nagar area of Pimpri.
Before it was identified, Mainkar’s body was found to be half burnt with a half-burnt document which helped the police ascertain his identity.
A case under Section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code was registered at Hinjewadi police station.
While investigating the case, the police were checking if there was a missing case registered by his relatives.
However, his relatives told the police that he was never in one place and was habitual of consuming alcohol.
“Upon conducting technical analysis, the police found that he came to Shivbhojan thali near Vallabhnagar ST Stand every day to have a meal and found his picture in the eatery,” read a statement by Balkrushna Sawant, senior police inspector of Hinjewadi police station.
While looking for whereabouts of the deceased person, the police came across an active missing person’s case registered by Pimpri-Chinchwad police. The police identified this missing person as Shaikh.
The police traced the real estate agent to be in Delhi along with his second wife. However, as the police reached Delhi, they found that he had left from there and has come back to Pune.
Several teams of local police stations and Unit 4 of crime branch were formed to track him and he was found in a train at Daund railway station.
Having run himself in debt worth multiple crores, the real estate agent had found a homeless man, killed him, attempted to burn his dead body, and tried to show it as his own death.
After his arrest, the police found a Rs 100 bond paper made by Shaikh which claimed that he was dying by suicide due to his debt and that his body was to be found on the location where Mainkar’s body was found.
The police are investigating it further as he is in police custody.
