.Pune
A man and his two sons booked in an attempt to murder case on Sunday were found hanging from two trees at Bharatmatanagar in Dighi near Alandi, some 15km from Pune city. The police suspect the three committed suicide.
Residents saw the bodies of Mahavir Manik Pandit, 45, of Sai Apartments in Dighi, and his sons — Manoj, 22, and Vivek, 19 — hanging early Monday morning at an isolated place near the Banacha stream.
Mahavir was a vehicle contractor and his jeeps were hired by a local Marathi daily. Manoj was working with a private company in Pimpalegaon near Alandi while Vivek was an engineering student at a college in Solapur.
Senior inspector (Vishrantwadi) Anil Ghuge said Mahavir had been harassing his wife, Shobha, for a share of the post-retirement monetary benefits of her father Suresh Chavan, a resident of Chimbali village near Alandi.
Shobha told her father about Mahavir’s demand. But the harassment did not stop. “Fed up, Shobha left for her parent’s house a few days back,” Ghuge said.
On Sunday, Mahavir and his two sons went to Chimbali in their jeep. They then picked up an argument with Shobha and her parents. Later, Mahavir and his sons allegedly threw burning balls of petrol-doused clothes at the house. They allegedly stabbed Mahavir’s brother-in-law Ramesh Chavan, threw acid on Shobha’s mother, Pramila, and manhandled Shobha and her father. The three then fled from Chimbali around 12.30 pm.
Mahavir’s in-laws lodged a complaint at the Alandi police station against him and his sons, and the three were booked for attempt
to murder.
The three were not seen after the incident, the police said.
On Monday morning, a woman saw the three bodies hanging from the trees. She immediately called the police. The police found the jeep they had used parked on
Alandi Road.
Ramesh Chavan told DNA on Monday that Mahavir was a short-tempered man. “The family never thought Mahavir would take such an extreme step,” he said.
The police have filed a case of accidental death.
