Severed legs found in Pimple Gurav garbage; police say liquor quarrel led to murder

Police in Pimpri-Chinchwad have, in a preliminary inquiry, solved the case of two human legs found in a garbage heap in the Pimple Gurav area. According to police, the victim is Anil Khade, 50. The preliminary inquiry has found that Vishnu Kumbhar committed the crime after a quarrel while drunk.

Police said Khade's torso was found inside a house in Vinayaknagar Lane No. 1 in New Sangvi, while both legs had been dumped in front of Shrinagar Lane No. 3 in Pimple Gurav. Municipal workers spotted the legs at about 11 am on Friday, November 6, in garbage lying by the roadside in Shrinagar Lane No. 3, on the road from Katepuram Chowk to Ramkrishna Mangal Karyalaya. Teams from Sangvi police and the crime branch then reached the spot.

Jitendra Koli, police inspector at Sangvi police station, said people in the lane dump garbage in the open and municipal workers collect it daily in a garbage vehicle. During this, a call came on 112 saying that a man's legs had been found in the garbage heap. Koli said he reached the spot at once with his staff. Workers were clearing the garbage, and two legs, cut below the knees, were in a plastic sack. They appeared to be a man's. Police searched the surrounding area for any other body or body part and also called in a dog squad, but found nothing.

Police then examined the sack closely and found in it a large square SIM card cover with a mobile number printed on it. When police contacted that number, a contractor came forward. The card was in his name. He told police he had given the card to his worker Anil Khade.

When police began looking for Khade, they found his wife and son. Shown a photograph, they could not recognise it at first glance, as Khade had not lived with them for about two years and moved from place to place. The son's mobile phone held a photograph in which Khade lay drunk, his legs clearly visible. When police compared it with the recovered legs, it matched about 80 per cent, according to Koli.

Police then traced Khade's friends. One friend said Khade mostly stayed with "Pintya", that is, Vishnu alias Pintya Kumbhar. Police found Kumbhar's house. As they neared it, the staff smelt a stench. Peering through a crack in the window, they saw something resembling a body inside. When they opened the lock, they found a body with both legs cut off.

Koli said a large head injury is visible at this stage, which suggests the victim was first struck on the head and then attacked with a sickle and an iron rod. He said the murder was committed with great brutality. Police clarified that both men were addicted to alcohol and had sat down to drink together, and that the crime appears to have arisen from a quarrel over liquor.