Pune police have arrested four individuals in connection with the murder of hotel owner Satish Wagh. The accused have been charged with abduction and murder. The police have also seized their mobile phones for further investigation. The four accused were produced before the court in Wanawadi on December 12. The court remanded them to police custody till December 20.
The arrested individuals are Pavan Shyamsundar Sharma, 30, from Laxmi Heights, Awhalwadi; Navnath Arjun Gursale, 31, from Anusaya Park, Wagholi; Vikas alias Vikki Sitaram Shinde, 28, from Bajrang Nagar, Awhalwadi; and Akshay alias Sonya Harish Javalkar, 29, from Vighnaharta Society, Fursungi.
The police are also searching for Atish Jadhav, another accused in the case.
Satish Wagh is the maternal uncle of BJP MLC Yogesh Tilekar. In this case, Wagh's son, Omkar Wagh, filed an FIR at the Hadaspar Police Station. Accused Akshay Javalkar previously lived as a tenant in Satish Wagh’s room, where an argument eventually led Akshay to vacate the room. This dispute is believed to have led Akshay to offer Pavan a five-lakh-rupee contract to kill Wagh about four to five months ago. Pavan then conspired with Navanath Gursale and Vikas Shinde to execute the murder.
On December 9, Satish Wagh went out for a walk around 6 a.m., at which point the accused kidnapped him from his vehicle and took him towards Saswad. They then killed him with a knife and discarded his body in the Shindawane Ghat area near Uruli Kanchan.
The police are further investigating the details of the premeditated murder, including when and where the plot was hatched and who else may have been involved. Additionally, authorities are probing the source of the five lakh rupees given to Akshay Javalkar for the murder and whether anyone else may have funded the contract.