Pune Crime Branch Cracks Blind Murder Case of Woman Found in Katraj Quarry; Six Arrested
Reported by Mubarak Ansari
Katraj, 18th February 2026: The Pune Police Crime Branch (Unit 02) has solved the complex murder case of a 40-year-old woman, a commercial sex worker, whose body was found in a desolate quarry in the Katraj-Mangdewadi area earlier this month. The police have arrested six individuals, including an auto-rickshaw driver and his accomplices.
On February 10, the body of an unidentified woman was discovered in a deep valley within a stone quarry in the mountainous region of Katraj-Mangdewadi. Initially, an Accidental Death (AD) case (No. 15/2026) was registered at the Bharati Vidyapeeth Police Station. However, given the desolate location and suspicious circumstances, senior officers, including Additional CP (Crime) Pankaj Deshmukh and DCP (Crime) Nikhil Pingle, instructed Unit 02 to investigate potential foul play.
The investigation, led by Senior Police Inspector Ashwini Jagtap, faced initial challenges as there were no CCTV cameras at the crime scene, and medical reports indicated the death had occurred 24 hours prior to the discovery of the body.
The breakthrough came through meticulous technical analysis. The police team collected CCTV footage from 97 cameras within a 3-kilometer radius of the crime scene and the victim’s residence. After screening the footage, they shortlisted 35 suspicious vehicles.
Detailed verification focused on an auto-rickshaw driven by Keshav Kamlesh Choudhary (20), a resident of Bharat Nagar, Katraj. Police noticed a discrepancy in the footage: the rickshaw initially had a hood, which was later deliberately removed/changed by the driver to conceal its identity. This attempt to destroy evidence solidified the police’s suspicion.
Upon interrogation, Choudhary confessed to the crime. He revealed that he had picked up the victim in his rickshaw from Kondhwa, posing as a shared-auto service to take her to Katraj. He was accompanied by his intoxicated friends, Abdul Mohammed Sheikh (23) and Sonu Laxman Pawar (19).
Instead of dropping the woman at her requested destination (Srishti Hotel, Katraj), they took a detour via a shortcut through the Mangdewadi hills. When the victim realized the deviation and questioned them, an argument ensued. The accused then threw her into the quarry valley, resulting in her death.
Based on the confession, the police arrested the three main accused along with three other accomplices identified as Mahadev Arjun Vhore, Sai Amit Pujari, and Sohel Hanif Khan, bringing the total number of arrests to six.
A murder case (Crime Reg. No. 61/2026) has been registered at Bharati Vidyapeeth Police Station under BNS Sections 103(1) (Murder) and 3(5) (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).
The successful detection was conducted under the guidance of CP Amitesh Kumar, Joint CP Ranjan Kumar Sharma, and other senior officials. The execution team included Sr. PI Ashwini Jagtap, API Amol Rasal, PSI Sanjay Jadhav, and their constabulary staff.
