Police in Pune’s Pimpri-Chinchwad has solved a complex murder mystery that entails a 52-year-old man faking his own death and allegedly killing his friend to evade a loan payment of Rs. 80 lakhs.
City police commissioner Krishna Prakash explained that it all started when a case was registered with Hinjewadi Police Station about a decomposing dead body nearby, India Today reports. The Maulana of Baner, Udanshahwali Dargah had informed investigation officer Balkrishna Sawant of the body.
The police teams recovered half-burnt clothes and a chit with 2 mobile numbers from the spot where the body was found. The post-mortem report revealed that it was a case of murder due to stabbing, following which the dead body was burnt. After 3 days of interrogation by the police, a person who owned one of the 2 mobile numbers revealed that a beggar had asked for his number outside YCM hospital.
It was at this time that the Hinjewadi Police simultaneously received information about 2 missing people in and around Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. CCTV footages were thus screened near the missing people’s residences.
The CCTV footage near YCM hospital confirmed that the missing beggar was spotted talking to one of the missing people from the Wakad area. The police then had a hunch that one of these 2 people might have murdered the other.
The family members who had filed the missing person reports from the Wakad area were then confronted, but the police weren’t yet convinced entirely.
Meanwhile, a notarized note was recovered from the missing person’s suitcase. It mentioned the names of 7-8 people who should be held responsible if he goes missing or gets murdered. Upon interrogating these people, the police found the identity of the missing person to be 52-year-old Mehboob Dastagir Shaikh, who had borrowed Rs. 80 lakh from them. The police suspected that he might’ve faked his own death in order to evade the massive loan payment.
The Pimpri-Chinchwad police traced Shaikh at Daund railway station. His wife, who had previously registered the missing complaint with the Wakad police, failed to convince the investigation team that her husband had actually gone missing.
Upon further investigation, Shaikh disclosed how he had planned the murder of his friend Sandip Pundalik Mainkar, taking him on his bike at several different spots before finally stabbing him and burning his dead body near Udanshahwali Dargah in the Baner area. It was also brought to notice that Shaikh already had another police case filed against him in which he was accused of duping people.
Shaikh has been remanded to police custody for 5 days. According to reports, it is likely that the police might arrest some more people on charges of helping the murder accused fake his own death.
Kudos to the Pune police for cracking such a complicated murder case!