19-year-old woman arrested for making ‘meet-up’ call to Dalit man ‘killed by her family’

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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.

According to police sources, Kamble was arrested in 2021 after Prajakta’s family had filed a rape case against him. He was released on bail a few months later.

Police say it is also suspected Prajakta tried to commit suicide after the incident. A team headed by Senior Inspector Shankar Khatke broke open the door and found that a piece of cloth was tied on the ceiling fan. Also, we found some injury marks on Prajakta’s hands. “Prajakta was then provided medical treatment,” said ACP Galande.

The officer also said they have got CCTV footage from the incident spot and it would be used at an appropriate time during the course of investigation.