Pune: Police on Wednesday claimed to have identified the men and ascertained the motive behind the murder of Kashinath Mahajan, the security guard whose decomposed body was found in a godown at Papade Vasti in Phursungi on November 12.
A police officer said three men, fearing the alert security guard would prevent them from stealing iron goods from a soil company godown, smothered him to death.
The Hadapsar police had recovered Mahajan’s decomposed two days after the murder after a foul smell started emanating from the area. A murder complaint had been lodged against unidentified men.
“The assailants, Pankaj Rai (22) and Drupdeo Yadav (24) from Chapra and Muzaffarpur districts in Bihar, stole Mahajan’s cellphone and four tons of iron goods worth lakhs of rupees and fled the scene. We tracked the victim’s phone location and took the trio into custody from Dhawade vasti in Bhosari on Wednesday,” said senior inspector Hemant Patil from the Pune police crime branch (Unit V).
Patil said, “Rai is a former employee of the godown. During questioning, Rai and his two accomplices admitted to their involvement in the crime. We have transferred their custody to the Hadapsar police for further action.”
“Mahajan also worked as a diesel mechanic. Rai and the others were aware the iron goods could not be stolen if Mahajan was on duty. The trio tied Mahajan’s hands and legs and smothered him to death with a cloth. The Sassoon General Hospital, in its advance postmortem report, has certified the cause of death due to suffocation. Mahajan also had head injuries,” he added.
A police officer said three men, fearing the alert security guard would prevent them from stealing iron goods from a soil company godown, smothered him to death.
The Hadapsar police had recovered Mahajan’s decomposed two days after the murder after a foul smell started emanating from the area. A murder complaint had been lodged against unidentified men.
“The assailants, Pankaj Rai (22) and Drupdeo Yadav (24) from Chapra and Muzaffarpur districts in Bihar, stole Mahajan’s cellphone and four tons of iron goods worth lakhs of rupees and fled the scene. We tracked the victim’s phone location and took the trio into custody from Dhawade vasti in Bhosari on Wednesday,” said senior inspector Hemant Patil from the Pune police crime branch (Unit V).
Patil said, “Rai is a former employee of the godown. During questioning, Rai and his two accomplices admitted to their involvement in the crime. We have transferred their custody to the Hadapsar police for further action.”
“Mahajan also worked as a diesel mechanic. Rai and the others were aware the iron goods could not be stolen if Mahajan was on duty. The trio tied Mahajan’s hands and legs and smothered him to death with a cloth. The Sassoon General Hospital, in its advance postmortem report, has certified the cause of death due to suffocation. Mahajan also had head injuries,” he added.