Pune Crime Files: When a ‘dead’ man not only walked but also killed another

The rotavator used by Kerba Thorve to mutilate Ghenand’s body is seen after being seized by the police.

A farmer, Thorve also operated a tractor-pulled rotavator which was hired by local farmers. His wife allegedly died by suicide sometime before 2020. Ghenand, who owned a farm but earned his living as a driver, had been an alcoholic for many years.

A cricket match and some alcohol

The story, which is nothing shy of a crime thriller, started unravelling on December 17, 2022, when a mangled body, with the head missing, was found in the blades of a rotavator on a farm in Charholi Khurd.

The police found that the tractor and rotavator belonged to Thorve, who had been hired by a local farmer the previous day. Thorve’s two sons identified the body as their father’s based on the clothes and the police thought that the severed head could have been taken away by stray or wild animals. They initially concluded that Thorve may have accidentally fallen onto the moving rotavator leading to his gory death. Thorve’s sons and family performed the last rites and on December 22 held the condolence meet and Dashkriya Vidhi.

In the neighbouring Dhanore village, Ghenand had not been home until the morning of December 17. After searching for him, his family filed a missing complaint on December 19. With Thorve presumed dead, villagers, meanwhile, started talking about Ghenand having something to do with his death.

The Alandi police under Pimpri Chinchwad jurisdiction found out that while the two knew each other, Thorve had been very frequently meeting Ghenand over the previous week. The police, who were looking into Ghenand’s disappearance, came across CCTV footage in which Ghenand was seen on a tractor with Thorve on December 16. This clue prompted the police teams to dig deeper and look at the connection between Thorve’s presumed death and Ghenand’s disappearance.

The police probe showed that on December 16, Thorve took Ghenand to watch a local cricket match and then he took him to a farm in Charholi on his tractor. On the way, Thorve bought liquor for Ghenand. The two then went to the farm whose owner had hired Thorve for tilling. Thorve and Ghenand tilled the farm until around 9 pm and Ghenand, who had been drinking, was heavily inebriated by then, the probe revealed.

According to the Alandi police, Thorve then brutally murdered Ghenand by severing his head with a sharp grass-cutting sickle. After putting his clothes on Ghenand’s headless body, he put it under the rotavator and mutilated it beyond recognition to stage it as an accident. Thorve dumped the severed head and clothes of Ghenand and the sharp sickle in an abandoned well and left his phone behind.

Dead man walking

After killing Ghenand, Thorve walked without clothes for a distance. On the way he borrowed pants and a shawl from people and went straight to the house of the woman he was having an affair with. The two then travelled to Jejuri where they stayed for some days. During their stay in Jejuri, Thorve told the woman about the murder. Scared of the implications, the woman insisted that she be dropped back at her home to her family.

On December 23, Thorve dropped by his home and went to his cousin’s house in Shel Pimpalgaon village after walking over 20 kilometre during the night. Seeing her ‘dead’ cousin alive, his sister informed people from Thorve’s village and then the police were informed.

Thorve was brought to Alandi where he confessed to the police and also to Ghenand’s family about the murder. Thorve was placed under arrest on December 26 on the charges of murder and destruction of evidence. The police recovered Ghenand’s head, his clothes, and the weapon used by Thorve from the abandoned well.

An officer from the Alandi police station said a chargesheet was filed against Thorve within the stipulated time and he is currently in prison on judicial remand pending trial.