Nagpur: In a major breakthrough, Crime Branch and Ajni police jointly cracked the sensational Laxmi Bar murder case and arrested three accused after a painstaking investigation. The fourth accused is absconding and is being hunted. Curiously, all the four accused are teenagers. The Activa moped used by the accused in fleeing the crime spot emerged the vital clue and ultimately led to cracking the murder. The two-wheeler (MH-31/VX 4668) has been seized. Police tasted the success on Thursday (August 18) after five months of the crime.
The accused Sonu alias Genda Rajkumar Domaji Dandekar (19) of Bhandeplot Slums, Akash alias Shaka Sampatrao Lilhare (18) of Sevadal Nagar and Shubham alias Shooter Shamu Neware of Bhandeplot, Sevadal Nagar have been arrested in the murder of Vinaychandra alias Pappu Chandramani Ganvir (28), a resident of Dwarkapuri, Hawrapeth. The fourth accused Sagar alias Daddya Prakash Pujari (20) of Bhandeplot, Sevadal Nagar, is still at large. The murder, that had taken place in the premises of Laxmi Beer Bar near Medical Square five months ago, had rocked the city and posed a challenge to police.
As per the details, Vinay Ganvir was murdered at about 11 pm on March 11, 2016 at the bar over a trivial issue. Initially, Ajni police had investigated the murder case but later Crime Branch was also given charge of the probe. After registering a case against unidentified accused, cops had mounted a full investigation and were on the trail of murderers. The CCTV footages procured from crime scene were scanned and around 1000 suspects on record from various areas such as Medical, Ajni, and Imambada were questioned for clues. In all 15 squads of Crime Branch and Ajni Police Station were formed for trailing the murder accused.
During the course of investigation, the In-Charge Additional Police Commissioner (Crime) Ranjan Kumar Sharma had specifically directed the investigating cops to keep a close watch on movement of the Activa moped and track the suspects particularly from Medical Square to Ashok Square areas. Subsequently, on 16.8.2016, the said Activa was spotted with three suspects riding on it. The Activa was trailed secretly and registration number was jotted down. Armed with the registration number, the owner of the Activa was tracked on 17.8.2016. When confronted the sons of the Activa owner informed the cops that the two-wheeler was mortgaged eight months ago. With this vital clue, the Crime Branch sleuths and Ajni cops pursued the information hotly and traced the person the vehicle was mortgaged with. The person emerged as one of the murder accused Akash alias Shaka Sampatrao Lilhare (18) of Sevadal Nagar and he along with the Activa was detained for interrogation.
During the interrogation, Akash spilled the beans and blurted out the names of other three accused involved in the brutal murder and also divulged their addresses. According confession by Akash, while they were entering the Laxmi Beer Bar, the deceased Vinaychandra Ganvir was coming out of the bar after enjoying a glass or two of heady stuff. Unfortunately, Vinaychandra casually pushed one of the accused Daddya but this petty issue took a bloody turn. A verbal fight erupted between Vinaychandra and the four accused. Instead of separating and enjoying liquor, Daddya whipped out a gupti from Shooter Neware and stabbed Vianaychandra mercilessly and others thrashed him severely. After the attack, other four fled the spot on the said Activa.
The accused are history-sheeters with a number of offences slapped against them at various police stations.
The team of cops that solved the murder included API Pradeep Atulkar (Crime Branch), PSI Surajpal Rajput, NPC Satish Nimje, constables Milind Moon, Sanjay Deokar, Sudhakar Dhandar, Nrusinha Damahe, Dharmendra Sarode, Ramkailas Yadav, Rajendra Tiwari (All Crime Branch) and PI Sandeep Pawar, Gulabrao Patil, API Dhobe (All of Ajni Police Station).
The NPC Satish Nimje, who got the first clue, has been rewarded with Rs 15,000 by Commissioner of Police while PSI Surajpal Rajput got a reward of Rs 10,000.
The In-Charge Additional Police Commissioner (Crime) Ranjan Kumar Sharma shared the successful task with media at a press conference held on Thursday.
