Pune Crime Files | How Snapchat posts led relative to plan and execute murder of 13-year-old kabaddi player

Harassment and warnings

Investigators said that Bhagwat had been living with his maternal aunt after his mother’s death. He had allegedly been harassing Kshitija and had claimed to be in love with her, but her family had warned him against it. Meanwhile, Bhagwat started working as a security guard at a private company in Mundhwa.

As per the police records, on October 9, 2021, he saw images uploaded by Kshitija – in which she was seen with a boy – on the social media platform Snapchat. He then went to Yash Lawns, where Kshitija was practising kabaddi, but the boy was not with her.

On October 12, he saw two more photographs of Kshitija with the boy on social media, officers said, adding that the minor girl had also asked him not to contact her. Upset, Bhagwat decided to kill her and die by suicide. Accordingly, that day, he procured a knife from a hotel, purchased a sword, a scythe and a lighter that looked like a pistol.

The police said that he then called two of his friends, both minors, and got the sword sharpened through one of them by paying Rs 100. He then discussed with them his plan to murder the girl with his friends, officers added.

The fateful day

The investigation revealed that the three went to Yash Lawns on a motorcycle around 5.15 pm on October 12, where Kshitija had come for kabaddi training with other girls, including her cousin Shrutika Vyavahare.

Kshitija questioned Bhagwat for coming to the spot, and reiterated that she had no relation with him. Officers said that the man then took out a knife and placed it at her throat. The girl’s friends rushed to her help, but Bhagwat and his accomplices threatened them by pointing the fake gun. Unaware that the gun was fake, the girls stepped aside.

According to investigators, Bhagwat then slit the girl’s throat and attacked her multiple times with sharp weapons, leaving a pool of blood. After the accused fled the spot, one of the girls alerted the police control room, following which a police team reached the crime scene and seized a knife, fake pistol and other items. Kshitija’s body was taken for post-mortem.

Her cousin Shrutika subsequently lodged a First Information Report (FIR) at the Bibwewadi police station against Bhagwat and his aides under sections 302 (murder), 506(2) (criminal intimidation), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections of the Indian Arms Act.

Trial that lasted 4 years

The police said that after the murder, Bhagwat consumed a rat poison tablet and fell unconscious. On regaining consciousness early on the next day, he reached Bharti Vidhyapeeth police station and confessed to the murder and the purchase of weapons. He was handed over to the Bibwewadi police which formally placed him under arrest. The police also apprehended his minor accomplices, who were taken to an observation home as per the law.

On December 29, 2021, investigators filed the chargesheet against Bhagwat. Advocate Hemant Zanjad was appointed the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the case. The prosecution examined nine witnesses, including the girls who witnessed the murder, and Police Inspector Anita Hivarkar, the investigation officer.

‘Girl had a bright future in sports’

SPP Zanjad sought the death penalty for the accused, claiming that the crime he committed was heinous in nature and came under the ‘rarest of rare’ category. Zanjad submitted that Kshitija was the only daughter of her parents. “She was preparing for the national kabaddi tournament and she had a bright future in sports. All the dreams of her and her parents have been destroyed by the accused….,” he stated before the court.

Advocate for the accused, Yashpal Purohit, however, submitted that the accused had no criminal antecedents. “He was just 22 years of age at the time of the incident. It was due to a fit of anger and spur of the moment [that] the accused might have taken such an extreme step to kill the deceased… A reformative approach needs to be taken in this case and minimum punishment has to be awarded,” he said.

After hearing both sides, Additional Sessions Judge S R Salunke held the accused guilty of murder on December 16, 2025, and awarded him rigorous life imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 5,000. The case against the minors is yet to be decided, the police said.