Chilling Crime in Pune: Government Contractor Murdered, Body Dismembered, and Dumped in Khadakwasla Dam; Police Arrested Three (Video)
Pune:
A harrowing murder has come to light where a government contractor, who had gone for a morning walk, was brutally murdered by a few assailants, and his body was cut into pieces and was then thrown into the Khadakwasla backwater dam. In this regard, the Pune rural police have so far arrested three individuals.
The murdered contractor has been identified as Vitthal Sakharam Polekar (age 70, a resident of Polekarwadi, Donaje, Taluka Haveli). The names of the arrested accused are Shubham Popat Sonawane (age 24, a resident of Chincholi Gurav, Taluka Sangamner, District Ahilya Nagar), Milind Devidas Thorat (age 24, a resident of Belgaon, Taluka Karjat, District Ahilya Nagar), and Rohit Kisan Bhame (age 22, a resident of Donaje, Taluka Haveli).
The main accused, Yogesh alias Babu Kisan Bhame, is currently at large, and Pune Rural Superintendent of Police Pankaj Deshmukh has informed that Yogesh Bhame has 9 cases registered against him at police stations, including murder, attempt of murder, kidnapping, fraud, trespassing, illegal possession of firearms, etc. Deshmukh also informed that in September 2024, and now after the Code of Conduct for Assembly Elections were declared, he was booked under Section 110.
As per the information, the murdered Vitthal Polekar was a government contractor, and he had taken the contract for the work of Paygude Wadi to Golewadi Road. Yogesh Bhame had demanded a Jaguar car as ransom from Polekar to avoid any hindrance in his work and threatened to kill him and his son Prashant Polekar for not meeting his demand.
A few days ago, as Vitthal Polekar, who had gone for a morning walk, did not return home, a case of missing and then kidnapping was registered at the local police station. After watching CCTV footage near Polekar’s house, a Swift car was seen following him after he left the house for a morning walk. During the further investigation, it was learnt that it belongs to Ganesh Muralidhar Chormale and is currently being used by Yogesh Bhame.
As Yogesh Bhame was not at home and his mobile phone was switched off, police suspected that he had kidnapped Polekar. Accordingly, police arrested his brother Rohit Bhame. While searching for the car, it was found that it had gone towards Nashik, and Yogesh Bhame was driving the car. Accordingly, Local Crime Branch Police Inspector Avinash Shilimkar and his colleagues left for Nashik. After searching in Nashik, police learnt that the accused had gone to Jabalpur by train. After that, Shubham and Milind were arrested with the help of Jabalpur Railway Police.
Meanwhile, police were searching for Vitthal Polekar’s missing body. Additional Superintendent of Police Ramesh Chopade said that the two accused were interrogated after they were caught. During the interrogation, the accused informed police that after they kidnapped Vitthal Polekar, they took him to the Khadakwasla backwater and killed him, and his body was thrwon in the water by cutting it into small pieces. Accordingly, the search operation was started on the confession of the accused. After searching through a drone and a boat, the police have found some parts of Vitthal Polekar’s body. However, the head has not yet been obtained.
Meanwhile, looking at the senseless manner in which Vitthal Polekar was murdered within an hour of his abduction, it is being investigated whether there are any other reasons behind his murder apart from extortion.
Further, police have gathered information about the main accused, Yogesh Bhame. Police said that Yogesh Bhame is a Gram Panchayat member, and his wife was earlier served as Sarpanch of the village. Therefore, he was influencing the people coming to the village, and through this, he took the help of Shubham and Milind, who were working at the Patanjali Hotel in Donaje. Further, it is also learnt that Shubham Sonawane has 2 cases of attempted murder and possession of illegal firearms registered against him at the local police station.
This action was taken by the team of Police Inspector of Local Crime Branch Avinash Shilimkar, Police Inspector of Haveli Police Station Sachin Wangde, Assistant Police Inspector Kuldeep Sankpal, Assistant Police Inspector Dattajirao Mohite, Assistant Police Inspector Amol Bamne, Assistant Police Inspector Sagar Pawar, Police Sub-Inspector Sutanase, Police Ammaldar Hanumant Pasalkar, Mahesh Bankar, Ramdas Babar, Raju Momin, Atul Dere, Deepak Sable, Mangesh Thigle, Sandeep Ware, Akshay Navale, Abhijit Ekshinge, Swapnil Ahivale, Tushar Bhoite, Mangesh Bhagat, Amol Shedge, Kashinath Rajapure, Dagdu Veerkar, Santosh Bhapkar, Deepak Gaikwad, Santosh Todkar, Ganesh Dhanve, Mahendra Chaudhari, and Sachin Gund under the guidance of Superintendent of Police Pankaj Deshmukh, Additional Superintendent of Police Ramesh Chopde, and Sub Divisional Police Officer Sunilkumar Pujari.
In this, Police Inspector of Nashik City Crime Branch Jairam Paygude, Bhushan Sonawane, Mangesh Jagzap, Bhagwan Jadhav, Ravindra Dighe, Police Inspector of Nashik RPF Police Station Harpul Singh, Ammaldar Dinesh Yadav, Sagar Verma, Police Inspector of Jabalpur GRP Railway Police Station Niranjan Gujar, and Ammaldar Amar Dhurve have also provided their insights and help.
Meanwhile, as soon as it came to light that the contractor was abducted, the Special Inspector General of Police, Kolhapur Zone, Sunil Phulari, ordered an immediate investigation into the matter. He also visited the incident site. Meanwhile, Phulari said that the police are investigating the exact reason behind the contractor’s murder.
