Pune: Pune Police arrested a 19-year-old woman in connection with the murder of Dalit man Pradhunya Prakash Kamble (22), who was having a love affair with her. The woman has been identified as Prajakta Vijay Paigude, a resident of Shivane.
Police had earlier arrested her father Vijay Paigude (50), mother Vandana Paigude (40), brother Ajay (19), and her brother’s friend Sagar Rathod (21), in connection with the case.
Kamble was murdered at Dangat Patil Nagar in Shivane on March 16. His 17 year old cousin had lodged an FIR at the Warje police station.
Police said Kamble, who was staying at Ramoshi Wadi in Gokhale Nagar, was in love with Prajakta. However, the woman’s family was against their relationship.
Police said within eight hours of the murder, four accused were arrested in this case, and booked under Sections 302 (murder), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections of the Arms Act.
However, during further probe, as the deceased was found to be a Dalit, sections of the SC&ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were also invoked and the investigation was taken over by the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Rukmini Galande.
Police said the investigation revealed that Prajakta made a phone call to Kamble on March 16 and asked him to come to the spot where he was later attacked by her family members with sharp weapons, causing his death.
We found Prajakta was involved in the murder conspiracy. She had called the deceased Kamble over phone before the murder. So we have arrested Prajakta and also invoked Section 120 b (criminal conspiracy) of IPC in this case. The court has remanded Prajakta to police custody till March 24 for further investigation,” said ACP Galande, during a press conference on Wednesday.
Police also said there was a dispute between Kamble and Prajakta’s family. Police confirmed that Kamble had a criminal record and was booked in a couple of body offence cases in the past. Indian Express
