Case summary
1. The three deceased 1. Sandeep Raju Thanwar ( Age : 26, Resident of Village Kinhi, Taluka Bhusawal, District Jalgaon), 2. Sachin Sohanlal Gharu (Age: 22, Resident of Erandol , Jalgaon), 3. Rahul Kandare (Age: 20, Resident of Malkapur, District Buldhana) were working as Manual Scavengers at Trimurti Education society, Nevasa phata, District Ahmednagar. All of them belong to Mehter community (Scheduled Caste). All the three victims migrated to the said village and stayed on the campus in the Trimurty School.
2. On 1st January 2013 Sandeep Thanwar received a phone call from one Mr Ashok Navgire informing him to reach the residence of Mr. Popat Vishwanath Darandale at Ganeshwadi Nevasa to clean the septic tank. Sandeep Thanwar along with Sachin Gharu and Rahul Kandale left for the residence of Poapt Darandale at around 11:00 am.
3. At around 8:30 pm Kapil Raju Thanwar, younger brother of Sandeep, received a phone call from Sonaii Police Station that dead body of Sandeep Thanwar in found in the Septic tank of Mr. Popat Dharandale. Kapil Thanwar rushed towards the residence of Mr Popat Thanwar. Kapil inquired with Mr Paraksh Dahrandale and Popat Dharandale about Sachin Gharu and Rahul Kandare. He was informed that both of them left the place of incidence.
4. On 1st January 2013 at around 10:40 pm one Mr. Mukesh Changre, a relative of Sachin Thanwar filed a complaint in the Sonaii Police station. The dead body of Sandeep was thereafter send for postmortem.
5. On 2nd January 2013 the relatives of Sandeep received a phone call from the Sonaii police station that dead body of the other two members was found in the agricultural land of Mr Ramesh Darandale at Ganeshwadi, Nevasa. After visiting the spot where the dead bodies were found, people witnessing were shocked to see the dead body of Sachin Gharu. Both of his lower limbs were amputed from the knees and both the upper limbs were amputed from the shoulder. Also his head was chopped from the body. There were marks of injury on the head of Rahul Kandare. His dead body was also found near to the dead body of Sachin Gharu. Dead body of Sachin Gharu and Rahul Kandale were sent for Postmortem.
6. F.I.R was filed at Sonaii Police Station on 2nd January 2013 at 9”00 p.m. The Police arrested Mr. Ramesh Darandale, Prakash Darandale, Sandeep Kure, Ashok Navgire and Popat Darandale. They were charged under section 302, 201 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code. On 5th January 2013 after a representation made by the some social activists to the District Collector Ahmednagar the Accused were charged with section 120(b) of Indian Penal Code and Section 3(2)(5) of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Caste (Prevention of Atrocities Act) 1989.
7. The fact finding committee also perused the postmortem report of all the three victims. In the report of Sandeep Thanwar the Doctor made an opinion that the death is due to cardio respiratory arrest due to asphyxia due to drowning. The body was stained with fecal matter. But it is pertinent to note that no faecal matter was found in the mouth or lungs of the dead body. The stomach was empty. Neither water, nor faecal matter nor food material is found in the stomach. This creates a strong suspicion that Sandeep Thanwar might have been killed by strangulation and then thrown in the septic tank. In case of the postmortem report of Sachin Gharu, the report do mention about the amputed limbs and head of Sachin, but what is surprising is that the report mention that the dead body was found wearing a jeans pant and a baniyan. If his lower limbs are amputed from the keens then in such a case jeans pant should have been torn. But the Postmortem report doesn’t mention the same. On the contrary it does mention that mud is stuck to all over the body, clothes wet with water. Thus it is possible that Sachin was made naked, killed, and then clothes were put on his body.
8. All the three victims belong to scheduled caste community. There is a whisper amongst the villagers that there was a love affair between Sachin and a girl from the Darandale family. This love affair was not appreciated by the family members of Darandale. This seems to be a case of Honour killing. The Police are investigating the case but has not yet been able to find out the motive behind this heinous murder. There is no further development in the investigation. The accused are upper caste Hindus having a strong political influence in the locality. There is a sense of fear in the minds of the members of Scheduled Caste Community in the locality.
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