Pune: The city police have formally arrested one more suspect, who was initially deemed a minor and sent to an observation home in the Sept 1 murder of former NCP corporator Vanraj Andekar , after investigations established that he was above the age of 18 years. The police have also invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) provisions against the 19 suspects arrested so far and the two minors lodged in the observation home in the case. MCOCA was invoked after investigations revealed that they were members of an organised crime syndicate.
Assistant commissioner of police (crime) Ganesh Ingale produced Tatyasaheb Gaikwad (18) from Ambegaon Pathar before the special court of judge VR Kachare on Thursday. The court sent Gaikwad into police custody remand till Sept 24. According to the police, Gaikwad is one of the assailants responsible for assaulting Andekar with a sharp weapon near Doke Talim in Nana Peth.
Gaikwad, who was detained in the murder case at the time, was produced before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) in Yerawada after he had claimed that he was 17 years old. The JJB had then ordered his detention in the observation home. Police soon procured documents of Gaikwad's birth record from a school in Ambegaon Pathar, which showed that he was 18 years and one month old at the time of Andekar's murder.
Police produced the birth record before the JJB, which ordered the investigating officer to take Gaikwad into custody from the observation home. He was later shown as arrested in the murder. In the court, special public prosecutor Pramod Bombatkar told the court that Gaikwad's custodial interrogation was essential to recover the sharp weapon used in the crime.
The murder is the fallout of a clash between two groups, including one disgruntled faction led by accused Somnath Gaikwad and the other group led by the victim's father, Suryakant Andekar. Bombatkar argued that Gaikwad's interrogation is essential to identify the names of accused who had participated in the criminal conspiracy to eliminate Andekar and to establish the identity of two wanted accused on the run. The prosecution prayed to give sufficient time to police to confront Gaikwad with the 13 earlier arrested accused who are in police custody remand till Sept 24, and to establish the identity of the persons responsible for aiding the accused prior to their arrest.
Police have recovered eight country-made pistols, 13 rounds, six two-wheelers, one car, and four billhooks, of which three were used in the murder..
