The Chakan police have made a third arrest in the rape and murder case of a 17-year-old first-year commerce student in Palu village in Khed taluka, about 50 km from Pune.
The victim, Madhuri Devram Kedari, was raped and murdered on Monday. The police recovered her body on Thursday.
Two suspects, Anil Baburam Kedari and Anil Raghunath Chavan were arrested. On Friday, the police nabbed the third suspect, Santosh Anand Andre (21). All of them are residents of Palu hamlet.
According to the police, Madhuri went missing on Monday, when she was on her way to college at 7am. She used to walk for some distance from her village and board a state transport bus.
When she failed to return home, villagers launched a search. The next day, her father lodged a missing person complaint at Chakan police station.
The police said the suspects had accompanied the villagers in their search. Kedari had even asked a woman to avoid going to a spot where the body was later found, saying it was unapproachable.
