The 19-year-old son of an assistant police inspector attached to the state intelligence department (SID) was murdered in a gruesome manner on Saturday night, apparently in a fallout of a love triangle.
Pratik Pramod Jagtap, a resident of Dhanori who was pursing his graduation in computer science in a city-based college, was strangled to death and his body burnt near Shikrapur.
The Vishrantwadi police arrested five youths, identified as Pravin Chowgule, 23, of Wagholi and Yeshwant Kusekar, Anil Aasgekar, Devendra Ashok Mane and Ramesh Rangappa Dvedurge, all residents of Ichalkaranji.
The police said Pratik had an affair with a young woman living near his house in Chaudharinagar. She and Pravin used to work in a private company in Yerawada. The relationship between them grew and she dumped Pratik to live with Pravin for a year.
On September 23, Pratik decided to meet Pravin in the Airport area to discuss his relationship with the woman. Pravin came to meet him, accompanied by four friends.
The deputy commissioner of police (zone IV), Sanjay Jadhav said, “The youth and Pratik met in the Airport area. From there, Pravin took him in his car to Shikrapur area for dinner. When they reached Shikrapur, they had a small dispute with Pratik. Later, all the suspects beat him up severely and Pratik became unconscious.”
The suspects wanted to destroy evidence. They went to a nearby petrol pump and bought petrol in a bottle. Jadhav said, “The suspects took Pratik’s body to a ditch about 100 metres from the Pune-Ahmednagar highway, burnt the body and returned to the city.”
Meanwhile, Pratik’s father lodged a missing person complaint at Vishrantwadi police station.
The city police checked Pratik’s call details and found he had received calls from Ichalkaranji.
Jadhav said, “We informed the Ichalkaranji police about the suspects. At the same time, we arrested Pravin from his house on Sunday night. During interrogation, Pravin admitted to the crime and told us about the crime spot.”
On Monday morning, the Vishrantwadi police and Pratik’s relatives went to the crime spot. The police have carried out a post-mortem and the body was handed over for the last rites.
