Mumbai: Eknath Khadse’s nephew held for lady cop’s ‘disappearance’

Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai police have arrested Rajesh Patil, nephew of former State Finance Minister Eknath Khadse, for the disappearance of Assistant Police Inspector Ashwini Jaykumar Bidre.  A police inspector with whom Patil possibly conspired has already been arrested in the case.

Bidre, who was posted with the Protection of Civil Rights unit at Konkan Bhavan at Belapur, has been missing since April 15, 2016. Bidre is a resident of Roadpali in Kalamboli. A missing person complaint was registered on July 14, 2016. On January 31 this year, a case of kidnapping was filed at Kalamboli police station.

According to Hemant Nagrale, Commissioner of Navi Mumbai police, “Rajesh Patil has been arrested for kidnapping or abducting in order to murder (Section 364), criminal intimidation (Section 506 (2), adultery (Section 497) and voluntarily causing hurt (Section 323) of the Indian Penal Code.

A police team had reached Patil’s residence on Saturday. He was summoned for questioning at Kalamboli police station, where he was interrogated for several hours.

According to a police official, “The Call Detail Records of Patil, the arrested Police Inspector Abhay Sham-sundar Kurundkar and Bidre show that they were at the same place on April 15, 2016, the day she was last seen. Several calls were exchanged between Patil and Kurund-kar and they were with Bidre at her last location at Mira-Bhayander, the day she went missing. It is not yet known whether Bidre is alive or dead.”

Last Thursday, Police Inspector Kurundkar, who is posted with the Security Branch at Thane rural police, was arrested in this case. He has been remanded to police custody until December 15. Kurundkar and Patil had met when the former was posted in Jalgaon. Khadse informed the Free Press Journal, “The police should conduct a fair inquiry. I am confident that Rajesh Patil will come out clean.”