Ratnagiri-based Shiv Sena leader Sukant Sawant alias Bhai Sawant (47) has been arrested for allegedly burning his second wife to death and then discarding her ashes in the sea to erase the evidence.Apart from Sukant, two of his accomplices, Rupesh alia Chhota Sawant (43) and Pramod alias Pamya Gavnang (33), were also held for murder, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy under IPC. On Sunday, the trio was remanded in police custody till September 19.
The victim, Swapnali (35), was the former president of Ratnagiri Panchayat Samiti. She was murdered over a family dispute, said the police.”The trio set the victim ablaze after pouring petrol on her on the night of Ganesh Chaturthi (August 31) inside a chawl owned by Sukant. They threw her ashes in the sea,” said Ratnagiri SP Mohit Kumar Garg, adding that samples from the crime scene would be sent for forensic tests. After the crime, Sukant, who is the deputy chief of Sena’s Ratnagiri city unit, played innocent and lodged a missing complaint. However, on September 10, when Swapnali’s mother, Sangeeta Shirke (64), confronted Sukant, asking if he had anything to do with her disappearance, he broke down, said the police. “Sangeeta had an altercation with her son-in-law over her missing daughter, and Sukant spilled out that he had killed Swapnali. Sangeeta then complained to the police, leading to the arrest of Sukant and two others,” said the SP