NAVI MUMBAI: A week after the charred remains of a tempo and its driver were found on the Mumbai-Pune expressway near Rasayani, the police have discovered that this was no freak accident but premeditated murder.
Police sources said that on Tuesday, they arrested the key accused, identified as Malhari, who allegedly planned the murder because he suspected his wife was having an affair with the victim. Malhari’s accomplice and brother-in-law, Mohan, was also arrested. In the intervening night between October 12 and 13, the Khopoli fire brigade received a call that a tempo was ablaze on the expressway. They found the driver’s charred corpse inside.
The Rasayani police registered an accidental death case, and identified the deceased as Sadashiv Chikale (32), a Pune resident. But Chikale’s family suspected Malhari, and told cops he had quarrelled with Chikale. Cops scanned CCTV footage and saw a car pursuing Chikale’s tempo from Kalamboli onwards. They tracked the car’s registration number and the accused’s mobile tower location, and arrested him and his aide. They are searching for a third suspect. Malhari confessed to assaulting Chikale till he fell unconscious, and then bundling him back inside the tempo, before setting it on fire. George Mendonca
