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Two contract killers murder Pune man who hired them for killing his son’s second wife
They had taken Rs 1,34,000 from the deceased under the pretext of killing the woman, but they did not kill her, say police
The Pimpri-Chinchwad police have arrested two persons for killing a man who had paid them to kill the second wife of his son. The body of the deceased, a farmer, was found at a tin-shed located at Varale village of Khed taluka on December 1. The Pune police said that the murder took place around midnight on November 30.
The arrested have been identified as Avinash Baban Rathod, who drives an excavator for a living and is a resident of Mohkhed village of Jintur in Parbhani and Wasim Jabbar of Balan Bazar in Munger district of Bihar. Their accomplice, a native of Bihar, is on the run.
The deceased has been identified as Bhikaji Vinayak Panmand (58) of Khed. Panmand had hired Rathod for killing the second wife of his son Ajit Panmand (30) for he was against the relationship as his son has a first wife and two children with her, according to the police. The Satara-based second wife has recently delivered a baby with Ajit, police said.
“They had taken Rs 1,34,000 from the deceased under the pretext of killing the woman, but they did not kill her. They probably had no intention of killing her. They took the contract money and bought illegal weapons from Uttar Pradesh. The farmer was pressuring them to either return the money or finish the job. The hired killers called him to the shed, where he was later found dead. They did ask him to bring Rs 3 lakh more, and may had an altercation and killed him there,” said Krishna Prakash, commissioner of Pimpri-Chinchwad police.
“Ajit has been married for five years and around the same time, he claims to have started the affair. He told his family that he went to Alandi and married the second time. However, his family learned about it two years ago and it has been a constant source of tension in their family,” said senior inspector Arvind Pawar of Mahalunge police outpost in Chakan police station jurisdiction.
While the two men from Bihar held the farmer’s arms, Rathod strangled him with a cloth belt which came apart during the act after which the hired man strangled him to death with his hands, according to the police.
The police had initially registered an accidental death report as there were no clear signs or motive for the murder. However, upon investigation, they found a cheap mobile phone in his name which was used only to contact Rathod, according to Prakash.
A case under Sections 302 (murder), 201 (criminal conspiracy), 120(b) (destruction of evidence) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code along with relevant sections of Arms Act was registered at Chakan police station.
