A 49-YEAR-OLD mechanical engineer working for a private firm in Pune was killed allegedly by his wife, 17-year-old daughter and her boyfriend during an altercation at his home after he objected to the girl’s relationship, the police said.
Inspired by multiple crime web series they watched, the accused allegedly burnt the victim’s body “to destroy evidence” and dumped it at a secluded spot in a village on the road to Ahmednagar on June 1, police said.
Later, the police said, the victim’s wife allegedly kept his phone switched on and regularly updated his WhatsApp profile pictures and status, even posting a birthday wish for her on June 4, to mislead other family members.
Following a case lodged at the Shikrapur police station in Pune Rural under IPC sections 302 and 201, the police on Monday arrested the victim’s 43-year-old wife and his daughter’s 23-year-old boyfriend. The 17-year-old daughter was detained under provisions of the law for juveniles.
The victim stayed with his family in Pune’s Wadgaon Sheri area, and his body was found near Sanaswadi village on the Pune-Ahmednagar road, the police said.
According to the police, the arrests were made after Pune Rural Police SP Ankit Goyal formed two teams led by Inspector Avinash Shilamkar from the Crime Branch and Pramod Kshirsagar from the Shikrapur station to probe the case.
During investigation, the police checked video footage from as many as 230 CCTV cameras at different locations between Shikrapur and Wadgaon Sheri, and zeroed in on a car that was spotted moving in the area at night. The probe revealed that the car belonged to a resident of Wadgaon Sheri, and that it was being used by his son since May 31, the police said.
After the son was called in for questioning, the police found that he was allegedly in a relationship with the victim’s daughter, and had the support of her mother despite her father’s objections. The relationship, the police said, allegedly led to frequent quarrels between the victim and his wife. Late last month, according to the police, the three accused allegedly conspired to kill the engineer, taking cues from several crime web series they had watched.
“They attacked him with sharp objects at his residence on May 30, causing his death. The next day, they took his body to a secluded spot in Sanaswadi in (the boyfriend’s) car at night, where they dumped the body and set it on fire by pouring petrol to destroy evidence,” SP Goyal said.