Pune: The Pune city crime branch have arrested six men, including an autorickshaw driver, for allegedly murdering a 40-year-old woman by pushing her into a stone quarry in Katraj on Feb 10 following a trivial argument.Police arrested autorickshaw driver Keshav Kamlesh Chowdhari (20) of Katraj; his friends Abdul Mohammed Shaikh (23) and Sonu Laxman Pawar (19), both residents of Katraj; and their three alleged accomplices — Mahadev Vhorde (40), Sai Pujari (19), and Sohail Khan (20).
Deputy commissioner of police (Crime) Nikhil Pingale told TOI that the Bharati Vidyapeeth police discovered the woman’s body in the quarry on Feb 11 and registered a case.“We began a parallel investigation and checked several CCTV cameras in the vicinity. It was soon revealed that a few men had visited the quarry area and pushed the woman’s body into it after an argument,” Pingale said.According to police, the woman, a resident of Dandekar Bridge, had sought a lift from an autorickshaw driver on the Katraj–Kondhwa road. Two men were already seated in the vehicle when she boarded it. The three men later diverted the autorickshaw from her intended destination and drove towards an isolated spot in Katraj.“The argument between the woman and the three occupants began after they changed the route and headed towards a secluded area. They took the vehicle to an isolated stone quarry and pushed her into it. The trio later sought help from three others to suppress the crime,” Pingale said.A team led by assistant commissioner of police Shailesh Shankhe and inspector Ashwini Jagtap examined footage from 97 CCTV cameras and identified the registration number of the autorickshaw that had travelled to the quarry site that day.“To mislead investigators, the autorickshaw driver changed the hood of the vehicle,” Jagtap said.
