Two held in Pune Rural for killing 74-year-old and burning body at Tavashi cremation ground

Pune Rural Police have arrested two men in the murder of a 74-year-old man. The body is alleged to have been burnt at the cremation ground in Tavashi village of Indapur taluka to destroy evidence. According to the investigators, bloodstains found near the pyre and the wood used to burn the body led police to the suspects.

The case dates to November 16, 2024. The police patil of Tavashi saw something burning at the village cremation ground and informed Walchandnagar police. When police reached the spot, they found burnt bones, ash and embers on an iron grille. This made it difficult to identify the dead man.

However, bloodstains were seen on the ground and on pieces of wood about 40 feet from the pyre. This raised the suspicion that the man had been killed first and the body burnt to hide the crime.

While examining the remains, police found a dental cap and keys. As the identity of the dead man was not known at the time, the investigators focused on where the wood used there had come from.

Police questioned sellers of timber and firewood in Indapur, Malshiras and Phaltan. The trail finally led to a timber depot in Gunware village of Phaltan taluka. There it emerged that two young men had bought wood for a funeral and taken it away in a vehicle.

Police then detained two suspects, aged 30 and 23. According to the investigation, the two at first tried to avoid giving details, but later allegedly confessed to the killing and to burning the body. The dead man turned out to be a 74-year-old from Gangakhed in Parbhani district.

The investigators suspect that the older accused believed the elderly man had an eye on his wife. Police believe that, on this suspicion, he planned the murder with the help of his 23-year-old associate.

The two allegedly took the elderly man along during the Satoba fair on the pretext of giving him a meal. They stopped the vehicle near the Tavashi cremation ground, allegedly pretending to relieve themselves. The man was then struck on the head with a wooden stick and died. The accused are suspected of placing the body on a pyre and burning it so that the evidence would be destroyed and he could not be identified.

Despite this attempt to hide the crime, the investigators pieced together the whole sequence of events from the bloodstains and the clue of the wood. The two arrests followed a joint investigation by Pune Rural Police and Walchandnagar police.