One of the accused arrested for double murder in Nandanwan
Nagpur: On August 21, 2015, between 3:30 pm to 7 pm, two farm-labourers were murdered near Tarodi Khedi Village on the Outer Ring Road Godown in Nandanvan area.
According to complaint lodged by the elder brother of the victim identified as Tejram Hemraj Gautam aged 40 years and a resident of Plot No 56, Bharatwada, Jamnagar Nagpur the deceased has been identified as Poonashri Hemraj Gautam aged 36 years and a resident of Plot No 56, Near Hanuman Temple, Bharatwada, Jamnagar, Kalamna Nagpur and the brother-in-law of the first deceased identified as Someshwar Laxman Patle aged 26 years and a resident of Loha Palasgaon, Sadak Arjuni, District Gondia were killed by unidentified killers on the unpaved path going towards Tupkar Layout, near Tarodi Khedi Village on the Outer Ring Road Godown in Nandanvan area. The deceased were killed by slitting open the neck with a sharp-edged weapon.
On the basis of the complaint lodged by the victim’s elder brother Police Sub Inspector Koyalwar of Nandanwan Police Station registered a case under section 302 of Indian Penal Code and began his investigation into the double murder.
After seeing the dead-bodies, someone informed the police control room and the police personnel Nandanvan Police Station seized the dead bodies and after performing the panchanama and other formalities sent the body to Government Medical College and Hospital for Post Mortem. Many senior police officials visited the scene of crime.
After that, under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Economic and Cyber Crime) Deepali Masirkar and Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ranjan Kumar Sharma, Police Inspector Anil Kathkhede and other police officials of the Crime Branch and the cops of Nandanvan Police Station started investigating into the matter. During investigation, it came to fore that jealousy caused the victims to be murdered.
Envy and jealousy the main motive behind the murder
Usually the farm labourers hailing from villages are simple minded. According to police sources, the father of the deceased Poonashri Hemraj Gautam was working as a servant with the father of the accused. The father of the accused used to undertake the contract of cutting grass.
The deceased Poonashri Hemraj Gautam and Someshwar Laxman Patle started to undertake contracts of cutting grass and weeds from open plots. The work done by the two deceased was liked by people at large and they started getting many work orders from far off places yielding good income. In addition, their good and simple behavior pleased all.
This became a bone of content for father of the accused Ankush Shendre. 4-5 days ago, the father of the accused confronted his son and berated him and told him that since he did not concentrate on the family business of grass cutting, the son of his servant has started minting money by doing the same job. He scolded his son saying instead of working as a bouncer in a bar, why didn’t he work for their own business. Had he stayed at home and concentrated on their own business, his wife too would not have left him. (Due to some family dispute the wife of the accused had left him some years ago and the case is still pending in the family court). All this infuriated him and he had been fuming from within. He then came to a decision that by eliminating the deceased, his father’s business will once again flourish since there will be no competition.
Under criminal conspiracy Ankush Shendre called the deceased at around 2:30 pm on his mobile alluring him to give a big contract of grass cutting on an 8 acre land of his. The accused had allegedly called the deceased 4-5 times.
On August 21, 2015, the simple minded deceased came to meet the accused at the spot where they were killed. The accused had purchased two iron rods, one knife which he had bought from Madhya Pradesh a few years ago. He had hid the weapons near to the spot where he had called the deceased to inspect the spot and finalize the contract for cutting the grass and the weeds.
When the deceased reached the spot at around 4 pm, along with his brother-in-law, the accused had allegedly told the deceased to inspect the spot and finalize the rate for cutting the grass and cleaning the weeds.
Both the deceased were busy inspecting the proposed site, the accused Ankush Shendre attacked Someshwar Laxman Patle, (the brother-in-law) from behind and slit his throat with the sharp edged knife. When Poonashri Hemraj Gautam saw his brother-in-law collapsing to the ground, he tried to escape from the murderous attack, but the accused chased him and attacked him with the iron rod and felling him down, attacked him with the knife on his back, chest and finally slit his throat. Both the victims died on the spot.
After killing both the victims, he fled from the spot and threw the iron rods, knife into the Nag River.
How did the sleuths nab the accused?
When the dead bodies were picked up by the police, the police recovered mobile handsets and sizeable cash from their person. The police doubted the cause of the murder. When the sleuths went to the deceased house to enquire if the deceased had any enemies and about the activities of the day of the death, the family members told the cops that the deceased Poonashri Hemraj Gautam received 4-5 calls on his mobile about the contract of cutting grass on 8 acres of land. Following the mobile phone trail, the cops trailed the call to the accused. Accordingly, they arrested Ankush Shendre on August 22, 2015 early morning. On questioning, the accused identified as Ankush Shendre confessed to have murdered his father’s business rivals.
While speaking to Nagpur Today, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ranjan Kumar Sharma said that it was a joint effort of the police personnel of Nandanvan Police Station and Crime branch personnel. While answering to a question on the involvement of the father of the accused in the murder, he said that they are still investigating and questioning the accused.
