Nine booked in autorickshaw driver murder case
As per the complaint filed by the father of the deceased, Kisan Dhondiba Kale, the murder of his son is connected with the murder of former corporator Vanraj Andekar in 2024
Pune police have booked nine individuals including Suryakant alias Bandu Andekar and his son Krushna Andekar in connection with the murder of an autorickshaw driver Ganesh Kale.
As per the complaint filed by the father of the deceased, Kisan Dhondiba Kale, the murder of his son is connected with the murder of former corporator Vanraj Andekar in 2024. According to his complaint, the assailants killed his son as per the instructions given by Bandu Andekar, 69; his son Krushna Andekar, 28; and other gang members like Swaraj Wadekar, 25; Mayur Waghmare, 23; and Amir Khan, 25.
In September 2024, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, former corporator, and son of Bandu Andekar, Vanraj Andekar, was murdered. In this case, Sameer Kale was arrested for allegedly procuring and supplying firearms. Ganesh Kale was Sameer Kale’s cousin. As part of a revenge killing, the Andekar gang members murdered Ganesh Kale, as per the complaint filed by Kisan Kale.
Meanwhile, the Kondhwa police arrested Mayur Waghmare, 23; Arbaaz Patel, 24; and Aman Sheikh, 23 –residents of Kondhwa. The police also detained two juveniles (both 17 years’ old) in connection with this case.
While the key conspirators, Bandu and Krushna Andekar, are lodged in Yerawada Jail, the police have arrested Aman Sheikh and Arbaaz Patel, both known criminals with multiple prior offences.
Investigations revealed that Arbaaz Patel had earlier been externed and detained under the MPDA Act, serving time at Akola jail before returning to Kondhwa. The police further confirmed that Aman Sheikh and his associates were involved in firing incidents in Talegaon Dabhade last year.
Kumar Ghadge, senior police inspector at Kondhwa police station, said, “As per the complaint filed by the complainant, we have booked Andekar and his gang members in this case and further investigation in this case is going on.”
The accused Waghmare, Patel and Sheikh were produced in court on Sunday. During their submission, the police told the court that they want to investigate the conspiracy behind the murders. The police need to seize the weapons, vehicles and mobile phones of the accused used in the execution of the crime.
Defence lawyer Prashant Pawar and M S Chavan represented Andekar in this case. Prashant Pawar said, “The Andekar family members have no role in this case as most of the Andekar family members are currently in jail related to another case.”
According to Pawar, these arrested accused are not Andekar gang members. Already, the police have arrested the accused on Saturday and seized the weapons. They have already shared everything with the police.
On Saturday, at around 3.35 pm, four persons riding two motorcycles followed Ganesh Kale. When Kale was in front of the petrol pump near Khadi Machine Chowk, they approached him from behind and opened fire. A total of four bullets were fired. After Kale collapsed, the attackers allegedly hit him on his head with a Koyta before fleeing the spot.
DCP (zone 5) Rajkumar Shinde said, “After analysis of CCTV footage, it is found that the three arrested accused were actively involved in this murder case. As per the complainant, Bandu and Krushna Andekar financially helped the accused during Shiv Jayanti and Ganesh Utsav which proves they have connections with Andekar. Our primary investigation also suggests that they are associated with the Andekar gang.”
The police have invoked criminal conspiracy sections in this case.
Another officer involved in the investigation said that the accused met Krushna Andekar at Sassoon General Hospital where they hatched the murder conspiracy.
