The police have invoked Indian Penal Code sections 302 for murder, 201 for causing the disappearance of evidence, and 120B for criminal conspiracy, against the two accused. (File photo) The probe into the murder of a credit society director in Junnar taluka of the Pune district has revealed that a family member of the main accused had seen the two alleged killers in blood-stained clothes on the night of the crime.
According to the Pune Rural police’s probe, Kishor Kondibhau Tambe, 40, was allegedly murdered by his distant relative Pandurang Jijabhau Tambe, 39, and his aide Mahesh Gorakhnath Kasal, 30. Kishor, a resident of the Tambewadi area of Alephata town, was reported missing by his cousin on April 6.
A farmer who held the position of a director in the Vividh Karyakari Credit Society, Kishor was also into excavation and sale of murram, a disintegrated rock for filling in construction works.
“The investigation has revealed that the two suspects invited Kishor for a party on a farm in the night. They got him inebriated before killing him by hitting him with an iron rod. The probe suggests the duo killed him around 9 pm. It took them around two hours to dump his body in the well from where it was recovered,” said an officer who is part of the investigation.
“Then around 11.15 pm, Pandurang called his nephew Tejas and asked him to get two t-shirts and two pairs of night pants to the backyard of the house. When Tejas met Pandurang and Kasal, the two had blood-soaked clothes on. When Tejas asked him what had happened, Pandurang asked him to mind his own business. Sometime later, Pandurang also asked him to remove the rear seat cover of his car which was soaked in blood. The nephew could not question the uncle, being the elder from the house,” added the official.
Pandurang, a farmer and Kishor’s second cousin, had been nursing grudges against him because of the rivalry in the murram excavation business. Kasal too had an old dispute with Kishor, the police probe has revealed.
A relative of Kishor, who is survived by his wife and son, told The Indian Express, “We hope the police conduct a meticulous probe in the case to ensure that the killers get the maximum possible sentence”.
After Kishor was reported missing, the Alephata police station and the Local Crime Branch (LCB) of the Pune Rural police launched a search. Police canine squad member Durga was given the smell of Kishor’s clothes and she led the team next to a canal and a well in Tambewadi. However, before the search of the canal and the well could be launched, the LCB team received a tip-off from informants that Pandurang and Kasal were involved in the murder of Kishor. The two were detained for questioning and after sustained interrogation, they confessed to killing Kishor, said the police.
The police have invoked Indian Penal Code sections 302 for murder, 201 for causing the disappearance of evidence, and 120B for criminal conspiracy, against the two accused.