One held for demanding ransom of 10L

Pune: The Talegaon MIDC police on Saturday arrested a 23-year-old man from Kolhapur district on the charge of threatening the wife of 52-year-old bullock cart racing enthusiast Pandit Jadhav, who was murdered in November last year, and demanding a ransom of Rs 10 lakh from her. The arrested man has been identified as Parth Kakade of Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district. "His accomplice is on the run. We will soon arrest him," Police Sub-Inspector Vivek Govarkar of the Talegaon MIDC police told TOI.
The bullock cart racing enthusiast Jadhav was abducted on November 14 last year by his tenant and tenant's accomplice. They strangled Jadhav to death and burnt his body at Wahagaon in Khed taluka. Later, Jadhav's tenant demanded Rs50 lakh through messages sent to Jadhav's family members.

Govarkar said that on April 26, Jadhav's wife received a call from an unknown cellphone number. The caller threatened the woman that her and her son's lives were in danger. "The man threatened her with dire consequences and demanded a ransom of Rs10 lakh from her so as not to harm her and her son," Govarkar said.
The officer said that the woman immediately alerted the Pimpri Chinchwad crime branch. Senior police inspector Devendra Chavan of the anti-extortion cell of the Pimpri Chinchwad crime branch arrested Kakade on Saturday. "During the questioning, Kakade revealed the name of his accomplice, who is the main suspect in the case," Govarkar said.
The officer said that the police are now investigating from where the duo got the complainant's contact number. "We are also investigating whether there was any involvement of an insider in the case. The suspect Kakade was produced before the court and remanded to police custody for two days," the officer said.