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Journalism of Courage
The Pune city police Thursday arrested Sonali Andekar, the wife of slain former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporator Vanraj Andekar, in connection with the investigation into the murder of his nephew Ayush Komkar. The police also arrested one Munaf Pathan on Wednesday night for allegedly supplying firearms to the Andekars for killing Ayush.
Meanwhile, probing the finances of the Andekar gang, the police said they have so far frozen 27 bank accounts, having about Rs 50.66 lakh, of the accused persons arrested in this case. Police are also probing the movable and immovable assets of the Andekar gang members.
On Thursday, the police produced Sonali, Pathan and 11 other accused, including Bandu and his son Krushna Andekar, before a special court in Pune. The court sent Sonali, Bandu’s sister-in-law Lakshmi Andekar and his daughter Vrundavani Wadekar to judicial custody. The other 10 accused were sent to police custody till September 29 for further investigation.
Ayush’s mother Kalyani had lodged an FIR over his murder at Samarth police station against nine members of the Andekar family, including her father Bandu and her brother Krushna Andekar, as well as four gang members – Yash Patil, Amit Patole, Sujal Rahul Mergu, and Aman Yusuf Pathan alias Khan.
The police said Aman Pathan and Yash Patil allegedly shot Ayush dead as per a conspiracy hatched by the Andekar family to avenge the murder of Vanraj. Officers added that Patole and Sujal were present at the crime scene at the time of the murder.
Following the initial arrests in the case, crime branch sleuths questioned Vanraj’s wife Sonali and Krushna’s wife Priyanka Andekar. Subsequently, they placed Sonali under arrest on Thursday, suspecting her alleged role in hatching the conspiracy to kill Ayush in revenge for her husband’s murder.
With this, the number of arrests in this case has reached 15. The police have booked the accused under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Indian Arms Act, and the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Yash Patil and Amit Patole were arrested on September 6, the day after Ayush’s murder. A court then sent them to police custody till September 22.
Ayush, 18, was allegedly shot multiple times by two gunmen in the parking lot of his residential building in Bhavani Peth on September 5 in what is suspected to be an act of revenge for Vanraj’s murder on September 1, 2024. Officers had earlier arrested 13 people, including dreaded gangster and Vanraj’s father Suryakant alias Bandu Andekar, 68, in this case.
Ayush was the son of Bandu Andekar’s daughter Kalyani Komkar. Her husband Ganesh Komkar is the prime accused in Vanraj’s murder.
13 booked for obstructing cops
The police said that when they were taking Vanraj Andekar’s wife Sonali into custody on Thursday, people gathered at the spot caused obstructions in the investigation process. A separate First Information Report (FIR) was hence lodged against 13 people, including Sonali and Priyanka Andekar and others on charges of causing disturbance in government work. Police Constable Priyanka Gore lodged the FIR in this regard at Samarth police station on Friday.
