The seven-member family found dead in Bhima river at Pargaon village in Pune district’s Daund taluka was murdered by relatives, the Pune rural police said on Wednesday, adding that five people were arrested on murder charges in the last 24 hours. While the police suspect that the motive was revenge, further investigation is on, officials said.
The police have identified the accused as Ashok Kalyan Pawar (39), Sham Kalyan Pawar (35), Shankar Kalyan Pawar (37), Prakash Kalyan Pawar (24) and Kantabai Sarjerao Jadhav (45), all residents of Nighoj in Parner taluka of Ahmednagar district.
The police identified the deceased as Mohan Uttam Pawar (45), his wife Sangita (40), both natives of Khamgaon village in Georai taluka of Beed district, their son-in-law Shamrao Pandit Fulaware (28), daughter Rani Fulaware (24) and her children Ritesh (7), Chotu (5) and Krushna (3), all natives of Hatole village in Washi taluka of Osmanabad district.
The police said the first body was found in Bhima river on January 18. Three more bodies were recovered between January 20 and January 22. On Tuesday, the bodies of the three children were fished out of the river by a Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority team.
The police said a cell phone recovered from one of the deceased women helped them trace the relatives, who then identified the bodies. A probe revealed that the deceased were residing at Nighoj village in Parner in Ahmednagar district since last year. They were involved in labour work.
After Ankit Goyal, superintendent of Pune rural police, formed teams to probe the deaths, the five accused were arrested. An FIR was lodged against them at Yavat police station under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, invoking murder charges, among others.
The police said that the accused Ashok Pawar’s son Dhananjay had died in a road accident at Wagholi a few months ago. Ashok and his family allegedly suspected that Mohan and his son Anil were responsible for Dhananjay’s death and murdered Mohan and his family members to take revenge, the police said.
According to the police, no injury marks were found on the bodies. The police are investigating how the accused allegedly killed the deceased.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Rahul Dhas is investigating the case.
