Police arrest friend in Darshana Pawar murder

Darshana Pawar's decomposed body was found days after she and Handore were reported missing in separate police complaints lodged by their respective families on June 14-15

Rahul Handore Darshana pawar Pune murder

Pune rural police have arrested Rahul Handore, Darshana's friend, who was reported missing from the spot after going for a trekking trip with her on June 12. (Express photo by Pavan Khengre)

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FOUR DAYS after the body of 26-year-old Darshana Pawar was found at the foothills of Rajgad Fort near Pune with multiple injury marks, the Pune Rural Police said on Thursday that they have traced and arrested her 28-year-old friend Rahul Handore, who allegedly confessed to committing the murder after his marriage proposal was rejected by the victim.

Handore was arrested at the Andheri railway station in Mumbai on Wednesday night, the police said. He had been travelling mostly by train since the murder on June 12, reaching West Bengal, Chandigarh and Goa, apart from various locations in Maharashtra, they said. “He made contact with some family members a few times during this period,” Pune Rural SP Ankit Goyal said.

According to the police, Handore allegedly killed Darshana, who had recently qualified for the state forest services, using rocks and “a sharp weapon” on June 12, the day both of them went for a trek at the fort. The murder weapon is yet to be found but the police are probing the possibility of Handore having carried a cutter or blade with him.

Officers said CCTV footage from a restaurant at Gunjavane village, at the fort’s foothills, was the first decisive clue that turned the needle of suspicion towards Handore, who was also a state civil services aspirant.

“It showed the two going towards the fort but only Handore returning. Another clue was Handore going untraceable. We could track his cellphone location from time to time and he seems to have travelled by train to Chandigarh, West Bengal and Bengaluru. During the probe, we traced him to Andheri station and that is where he was arrested,” said a senior officer.

Police officers said Handore and Darshana knew each other from childhood since his home at Shaha village in Sinnar taluka of Nashik was opposite that of her maternal uncle. Handore holds a BSc in Botany and, like Darshana, was preparing for various competitive exams, mainly those conducted by the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC).

Both were part of the same study group in Pune where Handore stayed at Karvenagar while Darshana, an MSc in Mathematics, visited the city from her hometown in Ahmednagar for preparations.