Maharashtra: Man gets life in jail for 60-year-old’s murder in Amravati

AMRAVATI: The court of district and sessions judge (No.3) Nikhil P Mehta on Thursday sentenced Dhiraj Arun Shinde to life imprisonment and fined him Rs15,000 or six months of simple imprisonment in default of fine for murder of a 60-year-old woman, Shailaja Omprakash Nilange.
The court also sentenced Shinde’s accomplice Ashwini Murlidhar Tekade (26, a resident of Eklaspur in Paratwada) to two years of rigorous imprisonment.
The murder had taken place on January 31, 2018, at Nilange’s home in Jalaram Nagar which comes under Frezerpura police station.
According to the charge sheet, Nilange, a retired teacher, was living alone at her residence in lane no. 3 of Jalaram Nagar after death of her husband who too was a teacher. She has two daughters and a son. While the daughters are in Nagpur, the son lived in a separate house in Jayanti Colony here.
Two months before the incident, Nilange had rented out one of the rooms to Dhiraj Shinde. Her sister Pratibha Shirish Hegu was residing a few metre from Nilange’s home.
On January 31, 2018, Shinde went to the home of Hegu around 8.30am and told her that Nilange hasn’t woken up despite giving calls. Pratibha rushed to Nilange’s home only to find her dead, bleeding from nose and mouth. There were blood stains on pillow and bedsheet too. A tooth was also lying beside her.
Pratibha registered a complaint with Frezerpura police who registered an offence of murder and started investigation.
Police found that the ATM card of Nilange had been used at Dastur Nagar ATM kiosk and Rs40,000 had been withdrawn. On searching CCTV footage, police found Dhiraj Shinde and Ashwini Tekade withdrawing the money. Police arrested Dhiraj and Ashwini.
During interrogation, it came to light that Dhiraj strangulated Nilange, took her valuables, ATM cards and other documents and handed them to Ashwini. Police recovered cash, ornaments and other documents from Ashwini.
API Bipin Ingale completed probe and filed chargesheet in the court.
The court examined 15 witnesses and held both the accused guilty under various sections of IPC.
APP Dilip Tiwari pleaded the case for government. He was supported by advocate Sandeep Tamhane.