Maharashtra village sarpanch abducted, released for Rs47 lakh

Five goons abducted the sarpanch of a village in Mulshi taluka at gunpoint on Karve Road on Sunday, burgled his apartment in Dhayrigaon and fled with Rs47 lakh before releasing him in Pirangut at 9.30 pm on Sunday.

Shankar Mahadev Dindle (41), the sarpanch of Padalghar village and a land dealer for Lavasa Lake City, who was abducted, lodged a complaint in this regard with the Warje Malwadi police station.

The police have registered a case under sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Arms Act, 1959, dealing with dacoity, kidnapping for ransom, wrongful confinement to extort property, and putting a person in fear of death or of grievous hurt in order to commit extortion.

The incident comes at a time when the deputy chief minister, Ajit Pawar, had instructed the Pune police commissioner, Meeran Chadha Borwankar, to take tough measures to maintain law and order within the commissionerate.

The police said that Dindle and his three friends travelled to Pune city in an i-10 car on Sunday to place orders for making flexes and billboards for a function in Mulshi, which Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP, Supriya Sule, was to attend on November 1.

The event was to take place in Dasve village, for which Dindle was to distribute invitation cards. After placing orders for the billboards, Dindle and his driver went to Karve Road to buy crabs. They parked the car near Maharshi Karve Vidyalaya, and returned to the car at 6 pm.

Five goons, all in their mid-20s, arrived there on three motorcycles. One of the goons pointed a gun at Dindle’s stomach, saying that one Sharad Mohal wanted to meet him in Warje. They forced him and his driver on to the two-wheelers and rode towards Mamasaheb Mohal School in Mutha village.

According to the first information report (FIR), after reaching the spot the goons allegedly beat up Dindle and his driver with batons and demanded Rs50 lakh from him.  They apparently wanted the money for the release of their accomplice, lodged in Yerawada jail.

The goons snatched the keys to his flat at 101, Tarangan Residency, Raykarnanagar in Dhayrigaon. While four goons stood guard over Dindle, two others took the car driver to Dindle’s unoccupied apartment on a motorcycle. there they opened a cupboard and stuffed Rs47 lakh in a bag.

The two goons then went to Karve Road with the driver, brought the car to the Dhayrigaon apartment and left with the bag. When the car reached Dhayri Phata, one of the goons got off with the bag. The goons later abandoned the car and its driver at Warje Chowk at 9.30 pm. Two goons released Dindle in Pirangut, from where he hired an autorickshaw to reach Chandni Chowk.

The police have formed special teams to crack the case. “We have started investigation and are confident of nabbing the suspects soon,” they said.

On Monday morning a police team conducted a panchnama at Dindle’s flat in Dhayrigaon, where gold ornaments and gold biscuits weighing 550 gm were found in a cupboard.