Crime Branch cracks “blind murder” case, arrests two accused

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Cops faced challenge as man’s body was chopped to pieces and dumped in Gandhisagar Lake

Nagpur: After groping in dark for almost a month, Crime Branch has cracked the “blind murder” case in which body of a man was chopped to pieces and was fished out from Gandhisagar Lake popularly known as Shukrawari Talav. Cops, after painstaking investigations, succeeded in identifying the deceased and arresting two accused.

The names of the accused were given as Rahul Bhotmange, a resident of Pachpaoli and Rahul Dhapodkar, a resident of Tandapeth. While the deceased has been identified as Sudhakar Rangari, a resident of Jaripatka.

On July 11, cops received information that body of a man was found floating in Gandhisagar Lake. On reaching the spot, even cops were taken aback after finding the body chopped in pieces. As the body was highly decomposed and swollen, the sleuths of the Crime Branch faced a severe challenge in identifying the deceased. Sans identification of the body and any clues in the case, investigation was a tough challenge the Crime Branch ever faced. Even the top police officials were monitoring the progress of this case on a regular basis.

During the probe, cops drew a sketch of the deceased with the severed head they recovered and launched the hunt for the identification. Cops received secret information from Kamal Chowk under the Pachpaoli police station, identifying the person in the sketch as an e-rickshaw driver. Acting swiftly, cops rushed to the spot and after investigating further cops learned the driver’s name Sudhakar Rangari, a resident of Jaripatka. Further, cops received information about the conflict between Rangari and Bhotmange. Following which cops launched hunt for Bhotmange, who was also an e-rickshaw driver. After a long hunt, cops managed to zero in on Bhotmange. During the interrogation, Bhotmange confessed killing Rangari with the help of his close aide Dhapodkar.

The accused Bhotmagne stated that his conflict with Rangari started over ferrying of passengers. The duo had engaged in hot exchange of words in the past over the contentious issue. As a result, Bhotmange decided to settle the score with Rangari by eliminating him. Bhotmagne roped in his close aide Dhapodkar into the plan. As per the plan, Bhotmange accompanied by Dhapodkar invited Rangari for liquor party on the pretext of resolving the old conflict. The duo then took Rangari to an isolated Railway track under Pachpaoli police and killed him with beer bottles. They later took Rangari’s body to Bhotmange’s house and chopped it into pieces. Later, they dumped the body in Gandhisagar Lake.

The arrests were made by Unit 3 of the Crime Branch under the supervision of Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Nilesh Bharne, DCP (Detection) Gajanan Rajmane, and ACP Sudhir Nandanwar.