PUNE: The body of Anand Unawane, a 45-year-old chit fund operator missing since February 3, was found floating in Savitri river near Mahad in Konkan on Saturday.
Based on circumstantial evidence, the Mahad MIDC police have registered a case of murder and began the probe.
“The victim appeared to be bludgeoned to death. We registered the offence of murder and shared the photographs of the body with our counterparts in neighbouring districts,” Nilesh Tambe, sub-divisional police officer (Mahad), told TOI.
Tambe said a team from Pimpri Chinchwad police and Unawane’s relatives reached Mahad on Sunday.
Unawane’s brother Vishnu lodged a complaint with the Pimpri police on February 5.
“A team of Pimpri police and also the crime branch team swung into action immediately after Unawane’s brother lodged the missing person’s complaint. Our teams tracked Unawane’s cellphone and visited every location but were unable to find him,” deputy commissioner of Pimpri Chinchwad police Manchak Ipper said.
“We suspect a conspiracy — his cellphone location was not consistent. Moreover, his cellphone’s current location is quite far from where his body was found,” Ipper said.
“On February 3, Unawane had told his manager to withdraw Rs40 lakh from her bank account. He then told her to send the money to his flat in Pimpri. Unawane then told the driver to park the car near the building and keep the cash under the front seat. After half-an-hour, when the secretary contacted Unawane, he told her he was in Bhosari. Nobody heard from him since then,” a crime branch officer said.