Dapodi double murder: ‘Killer’ flew down from Delhi, walked for 4 hours from Pune airport, chanted mantras and danced before wielding pickaxe

Prasanna Pramod Murgutkar, 32, hacked the victims — Shankar Kate, 60; and his wife Sangeeta, 55; residents of Mahadev Aali in Dapodi Gaothan — to death using a pickaxe Saturday night.

On his way, Mangrulkar bought the pickaxe from a shop in the Vishrantwadi area, the police said. The police said he told them to “hang him quickly” and give justice to the victims’ family. They said they were investigating every movement word of the accused as he made contradictory claims.

Shell-shocked relatives and residents narrated what transpired before the murder at around 10 pm. Murgutkar chanted mantras with raised hands in front of a temple and danced while heading towards the house in the Mahadev Ali area of Dapodi, said residents. No one mustered the courage to go near him as he wielded the pickaxe and screamed his lungs out. Some residents captured his act on their cellphones but could not stop him.

As he reached the doorsteps of the Kate family, Murgutkar knocked on the door. As Sangeeta opened the door, he swung the pickaxe at her. It hit her in the face. As she collapsed and residents started to scream, her husband Shankar Kate- sitting in a rickshaw a little distance away- came running. On spotting the alleged killer, Kate tried to enter his house and shut the door. However, Murgutkar pushed the door with force, entered the house and hit Kate in the face. He also collapsed in a pool of blood, eye-witnesses, neighbours and residents told the police.

The Kates have scores of relatives in Dapodi and across Pimpri-Chinchwad. Like the Landges, Landes, Kalbhors, and Wagheres, the Kates are also ‘gaon wallahs’ or sons of the soil. The double murder has rattled the entire community.

Akash, the couple’s son, said he was not at home when the incident happened. “On that day, I was busy working for Rahul Kalate, who is contesting Assembly elections. I called up my father in the afternoon. He told me that he was resting. That was the last conversation I had with him. Around 10 pm, I got a call from a relative. As I rushed home, I saw my parents in a pool of blood. Residents caught the killer,” he said. Akash has a married sister living in another part of the city.

Mangesh Kate, another relative, said, “Residents saw him but no one dared to come near him as he wielded the pickaxe, shouted and looked threatening. No one thought he could indulge in such a heinous act. They watched him from a distance. One of the residents living in a nearby building collapsed seeing him swinging the pickaxe,” he said.

A neighbour said, “In barely three minutes, he killed both of them before anyone could do anything. It happened so swiftly that there was no way anyone could prevent it. This is because no one realised what he was doing. He looked like someone not in his senses or was heavily drunk.”

Satish Kate said the killer and his mother were tenants of the victims before Covid. “They had a dispute over payment of rent. After that, they left. Maybe because of this, the killer nursed a grudge. But we don’t know what actually was his motive,” he said.

After killing the couple, Murugutkar walked off as if nothing had happened. Residents said that he carried the blood-stained pickaxe while shouting the mantras and making weird sounds. At a nearby chowk, residents caught him and beat him up before alerting the police.

Assistant police inspector Kalyan Ghadge, the investigating officer in the case, said, “Murgutkar has been remanded in police custody by a local court till February 16. During our investigation, he told us that he had come by a flight from Delhi, where he was preparing for the UPSC exam. He said he and his mother were tenants of the Kates a few years ago. After living in Dapodi, he said, they were living in Talegaon.”

Murgutkar is originally from Chandrapur, and none of his relatives, except a maternal uncle, are ready to come forward. “When his mother died in 2019, only he and his uncle were present for the funeral,” the police said.

The Bhosari police said they were still trying to verify his claims to find out the motive behind the murders. “So far, we have found no truth in whatever he claimed to justify the murder…And we are still trying to locate the shop from where he purchased the pickaxe,” said Ghadge.

“I have taken revenge…Now the family should also get justice. They will get justice if I am hanged to death,” the police quoted him as saying.

The Kate family said they would meet the police to seek a death sentence for the killer. “I want justice. The killer should be hanged to death. My parents lived a simple life. They never hurt anyone. They were respected and admired by everyone in Dapodi,” said Akash.

Kailas Jadhav, who runs a gym in Dapodi, said, “I knew the Kates from my childhood, for nearly 50 years. They were a peace-loving, amiable and cooperative couple. The entire Kate family is highly respected in the Dapodi area. We cannot believe that they could suffer such a fate.”