Maharashtra police have arrested three men for the murder of a 22-year-old engineering student, who went missing from Maharastra’s Pune on March 30. The woman’s body was found in Ahmednagar district on Sunday. According to police, of the three youngsters arrested for the engineering student’s murder, one is her college mate. The probe revealed that after her murder, the assailants demanded a ransom of Rs 9 lakh from her parents using her cell phone. Police said the three men kidnapped the victim, identified as Bhagyashree Suryakant Side, for ransom and later strangled her.
On March 30, Bhagyashree went to Phoenix Mall in Viman Nagar around 9 pm, but did not return. She was also not reachable on her cell phone when her parents tried her. She fell victim to a heinous crime orchestrated by Shivam Fulwale, a fellow student in the same college, along with his accomplices Sagar Jadhav and Suresh Jadhav. Fulwale, hailing from Latur and being the son of a school teacher, conspired to abduct Bhagyashree for financial gain. The perpetrators lured Bhagyashree to meet near Phoenix Mall in Viman Nagar under the pretext of an ordinary meeting, only to kidnap her. Subsequently, fearing detection, they mercilessly ended her life within the confines of a car on March 30, disposing of her body by burning it and burying it in an open field in Kamargaon Village, located approximately 100 km from Pune.
In a chilling attempt to extort money from Bhagyashree's family, the accused used her mobile phone to send messages demanding a ransom of Rs 9 lakh, even resorting to deceptive tactics like sending misleading messages to misguide the investigation. Despite initial leads pointing to Jogeshwari in Mumbai, a dedicated police team failed to locate either the victim or the perpetrators. However, through meticulous financial scrutiny, authorities managed to apprehend Shivam Fulwale, Sagar Jadhav, and Suresh Indure from Wagholi. The discovery of Bhagyashree's remains in Kamargaon Village prompted the police to elevate the charges from a case under section 364 (A) of the Indian Penal Code to include section 302, denoting murder. Additionally, the accused will face charges for tampering with evidence and obstructing justice.
Additional Commissioner of Police, Manoj Patil stated, “The preliminary probe into the case states that it is a kidnap and murder for money. We have arrested the primary accused and his accomplice involved in the murder. The body of the victim was almost ten days old when exhumed and hence the identification and postmortem took time. The accused demanded Rs 9 lakh extortion from the parents of the victim after killing her. They used her mobile phone to pretend that she was alive and was with them. The cause of death and other details will be revealed after the postmortem and forensic analysis. It is unclear why the accused asked for a specific amount and where would they use this money, the case is under investigation it will soon be revealed.”
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