Gondia: Property broker, 21, held within 12 hours of murder of 61-year-old man in Bothli

A 61-year-old man, Chandrashekhar Bhaskar Dahikar, known to locals as Guruji, was murdered in Bothli village under the Amgaon police station limits in Gondia district. Police have named Ajay Shamrao Brahmankar, a 21-year-old property broker from the same village, as the accused. The Local Crime Branch (LCB) of Gondia solved the case in just 12 hours with the help of technical investigation and informers.

According to the police investigation, Dahikar lived alone. In September 2026 he had engaged Brahmankar, a broker from the village, to sell his land. A token amount of Rs 5 lakh was received from the buyer, of which Rs 4 lakh was deposited in Brahmankar's bank account in good faith.

The registry could not be completed later because of shortcomings in the land documents, and the deal with the buyer fell through. Under the agreed terms, the amount had to be returned to the buyer by noon on October 27. Dahikar was repeatedly asking Brahmankar for his Rs 4 lakh. Police say Brahmankar used this money for intraday trading in the stock market and lost about Rs 3.5 lakh.

Police say the deadline to return the money was the afternoon of October 27, the bank account was empty and the pressure was mounting. To escape it, the accused planned to remove the elderly man. The investigation found that at around 10 pm on October 26, Dahikar was walking home from the village. It is alleged that Brahmankar lay in wait near his house. As Dahikar came close, he struck him several times on the head and chest with a heavy brick. Dahikar died on the spot. It is alleged that Brahmankar then dragged the body into the bushes in front of the house and fled.

Panic spread in the area when the blood-stained body was found among the bushes in the farm premises at Bothli at about 11.30 am on October 27. A case of murder under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered at Amgaon police station on the complaint of Shakuntala Pathode, police patil of Jawri village.

Given the seriousness of the case, Superintendent of Police Gorakh Bhamre and Additional Superintendent of Police Abhay Dongre put the Local Crime Branch on the investigation at once. A team led by LCB Police Inspector Revchand Singanjude spoke to villagers and traced the money trail. Within a few hours, suspicion fell on Brahmankar. Police took him into custody and questioned him closely, and according to police he confessed to the crime and narrated everything.

Police Inspector Singanjude, API Amardeep Khade, ASI Raju Mishra and cyber cell API Devidas Thamke, along with more than 20 personnel of the crime branch and cyber cell, played a key role in solving the case in 12 hours.