Debt-ridden man kills stranger to fake his own death
In order to avoid repayment of debt, a 35-year-old man staged his own death by allegedly killing a stranger in Ambegaon Budruk on Tuesday. He had also disfigured his face and burnt him to make the body unrecognisable.
After two days of thorough investigation, the detection branch of Bharati Vidyapeeth police station on Wednesday arrested the accused from Karnataka, where he was hiding.
The arrested man has been identified as Satish Babu Bhalerao, a resident of Upper Indiranagar in Bibvewadi. He is married with two kids.
The deceased identified as Avinash alias Pappu Sampat Maral (31) of Janta Vasahat in Parvati area, worked as painting labourer. He is survived by two sisters.
According to police, Bhalerao, an autorickshaw driver, had taken a loan of Rs 7 lakhs and was unable to pay back. The money lenders were harassing him. On Tuesday night he found Maral in inebriated condition on Dandekar Bridge. He took him in his autorickshaw near Neelayam theatre but could not kill as people were around. From there he took him near Abhinav College in Ambegaon opn the Katraj-Dehuroad bypass.
“Bhalerao first bludgeoned Maral to death with a stone and set him on fire to make the body unidentifiable. Maral could not resist as he was drunk,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone II) Pankaj Dahane.
Bhalerao tried his best to make the body ‘look like’ his own. “Bhalerao planted his identity card and footwear on the deceased to create an impression it was his body. With the help of identity proofs, we traced his (Bhalerao’s) residence, however his family did not confirm his identity which led to the further investigation,” DCP Dahane added.
On Wednesday the identity of the deceased was ascertained but his relatives told police that they do not know about Bhalerao, who was found missing from Tuesday night.
Senior police inspector Balasaheb Surve, in-charge of Bharati Vidyapeeth police station said, “We received information that Bhalerao was hiding in Hubli in Karnataka. A team was sent there which brought him on Wednesday night.”
Investigation team included API Amol Devkar, and policemen Asgarali Sayyed, Sachin Dhawle, Kundan Shinde, Ganesh Chinchkar, Pranav Sankpal, Kiran Dhawre, Ujwal Mokashi, Sarfaraz Deshmukh, Kalpesh Babar, Mahesh Mandlik and Dattatray Dhawde.
