Juvenile detained for 85-yr-old Pimpri woman’s murder wanted to fund live-in partner’s bail: Police

The deceased, Shalubai Salve (85), a resident of a chawl near the Pimpri Railway Station, had retired as a conservancy staffer from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation in 1999.

Officials said Salve lived alone in her house while her family members and relatives stayed elsewhere. On the night of July 30, Salve’s neighbours had last seen her around 10.30 pm. Next morning, when they did not see her doing her usual chores till 10 am, they called one of her relatives. After the relative arrived, they checked on her and found her lying unresponsive on the floor of her house. She was later pronounced dead due to severe head trauma, resulting in brain haemorrhage.

In the initial probe, the police considered the possibility of it being a case of accidental death due to her fall on the floor. The family members subsequently revealed that Salve’s gold ornaments — those which she was wearing and those in her cupboard — and her mobile phone were missing from the house. A case of murder was subsequently registered after a probe revealed forced entry into the house.

As a part of the probe, the police started gathering intelligence on history sheeters in the area. Their probe zeroed in on one juvenile who had changed his location multiple times over little more than one week. He was detained by the police on Monday when he had come to the Pimpri vegetable market. The investigation into his movements at the time of the murder and his questioning revealed that it was he who had murdered Salve for money.

“The probe suggests the suspect pushed her down and sat on her chest, causing fractures in her ribs. He then banged her head against the floor causing her death,” said an officer who is a part of the probe.

Senior Inspector Ram Rajmane, in-charge of the Pimpri Police station, said, “Investigation suggests that the suspect’s live-in partner, who is in her early 20s, is currently in prison in a case of attempted murder in which the suspect himself is a co-accused. He needed the money for her bail and thus he executed the well planned crime.”