Pregnant woman burnt alive in Dhule, four held after 11-hour CCTV hunt
A pregnant woman from Raigad was beaten, doused in petrol and burnt alive over a workplace dispute; police arrested four after scanning CCTV footage for 11 hours.
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A disturbing case has emerged from Maharashtra's Dhule district, where a 31 year old pregnant woman from Raigad was brutally killed. The deceased has been identified as Pinky Hanumant Katkar. The case is linked to a dispute that arose while she was working at an art centre.
According to police, Pinky Katkar and the accused in the case worked together at the same art centre, where a dispute broke out between the two sides. Over this dispute, the accused severely beat the pregnant woman in Beed, leaving her unconscious. To destroy evidence, they then put her in a vehicle and fled towards Rajasthan. On the way, when they reached the Gartadbari area near Dhule, the accused poured petrol on the unconscious woman and burnt her alive. The brutal incident has caused shock across the district.
As soon as the incident came to light, officers of the Mohadi police station and the Local Crime Branch (LCB) swung into action. Police scanned footage from various CCTV cameras installed on the highway for 11 straight hours. During this technical investigation, suspicion fell on a Hyundai Mobilio car (registration MH 43 / AR 4070). Based on information from this vehicle and an informer, police raided Dharashiv and Ahilyanagar and arrested four people in total, including two women who worked at the art centre.
Those arrested are Sarfaraz alias Shafiq Alim Momin (38, resident of Dharashiv), Arif alias Khujya Asif Shaikh (31, resident of Dharashiv), Swati alias Aarti Ganesh Kurhade (28, resident of Ahilyanagar) and Laxmi Balaji Pawar (30, resident of Dharashiv). Farukh Shaikh (resident of Dharashiv) and Rohini Jadhav (resident of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) are still absconding in the same case, and police are searching for them.
Police cracked the challenging case within just three days. The action was carried out under the guidance of District Superintendent of Police Vishal Anand, Additional Superintendent of Police Ajay Devare and Sub-Divisional Police Officer Rajkumar Upase, by Police Inspector Shilpa Patil of Mohadi police station and her team. Police are continuing to investigate the case further.
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