4-year-old reported dead after fall in Pune: Probe finds he was brutally beaten to death by mother’s paramour

His mother Pallavi Kale, who is in her late 20s, told the hospital authorities that Vedansh had fallen unconscious after he fell from his bed in his sleep around 6am. Pallavi told police she was not home when this happened and that when she returned from work, she found he had a head injury and was unresponsive.

The boy had other injury marks, which Pallavi said was due to his fall from the terrace when they had gone to Lonavala 15 days ago. The autopsy of the boy revealed he died due to multiple injuries to the head.

“We found out that the mother of the child is separated from her husband and had been living with her paramour Mahesh Kumbhar in the Panchvati area of Nashik for the last three months. These initial findings were in contradiction from what she had said earlier. We launched an investigation and spoke with her relatives and also worked on other inputs,” said inspector Mangal Modhve, in-charge of Bibwewadi police station.

“Probe suggests that on 11pm on September 1, when the mother and the boy were at Kumbhar’s home at Panchvati in Nashik, the boy threw up after having dinner. In a fit of rage, Kumbhar brutally thrashed him and hit him multiple times with a broom. After this merciless thrashing, the boy fell unconscious. Kumbhar and the boy’s mother took him to a hospital in Nashik. The doctors referred him to another private hospital. But instead Kumbhar and Pallavi brought him to Pune and took him to Kamla Nehru hospital,” added Modhve.

The police subsequently launched a probe to trace Kumbhar (25), who works as a driver. Based on the technical leads including phone data, Kumbhar was traced by the Pune city police. A case of murder was registered and has been handed over to Nashik police for further investigation.

“Pallavi, who has two more daughters, has not yet been booked in the case. Her role in the crime will be probed by Nashik police and they will initiate further action against her,” an officer said.