PUNE: Pune police on Wednesday arrested four men, including a neighbor who offered Rs 5 lakh ‘supari’ (contract) to the attackers, in connection with kidnapping and murder Satish Wagh (55), a farmer and businessman from Manjali and uncle of a member of the BJP Legislative Council Yogesh Thilaika.
Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said: “The crime was the result of a personal dispute between the victim and one of his neighbors who hired the killer.” He said: “We have taken the case Charges of criminal conspiracy have been laid and have been handed over to the Crime Branch for further investigation.”
“The victim was abducted during his morning walk and the three arrested men committed the murder in a car. The fourth was a neighbor who had signed a contract to carry out the killing,” Kumar said.
Wagh, who owns a hotel and a shop on lease to third parties and also owns some land, was abducted by five men in a car from a place near Blueberry Hotel at Manjari Farm in Hadapsar district around 6.30 am.
An eyewitness told police that the car was heading towards Solapur. On the same night, Wagh was found killed by Yavat police in Shindawane, about 45 km from the city.
The Pune police launched a well-planned operation involving more than 26 teams of the crime branch and zone IV police force to identify and arrest the killers.
“On the day of the incident, our teams examined CCTV footage collected from more than 450 locations and successfully identified and traced the four-wheeler used in the crime,” the police chief said.
Crime branch officials detained two suspects at Wagoli’s hideout on Tuesday night, where they were discovered while analyzing CCTV footage. Through questioning the two men, the police found another suspect and the neighbor who hired the killer.
