Around 6.45 am on October 7, 2024, the Pimpri Chinchwad police control had received a call. A student who was out on his morning jog discovered a body on the premises of Aundh District hospital. A man who had no identification papers on him had been bludgeoned to death with a cement block and a rock, initial observations by police revealed. There were absolutely no initial clues to establish the identity of the victim. Investigators said that it was one of those rare cases in which the identity of the victim remained unknown till the time the accused were arrested. In this case, the Crime Branch of the Pimpri Chinchwad police solved the case building up on a crucial lead from a CCTV camera which finally led to the arrest of two suspects following a highway chase. After a First Information Report was registered at Sangvi police station into the murder of an unidentified person by an unidentified suspect or suspects, a probe was launched by a team from the Crime Branch of the Pimpri Chinchwad police. The team started analysing CCTV footage from cameras on the approach roads to the location. One of the videos revealed that the deceased man had come to the area with two other people, riding triples on a bike the previous night. As the police traced their movements, the trio visited a liquor shop and purchased alcohol. Even at this stage, the police had no clues about the identity of the suspect and the victim. A closer examination of other footage led to a crucial lead. The investigator found that one of the two individuals accompanying the victim, was carrying a large white bag, typically used by courier delivery executives. Pursuing the lead, the police found the suspect had entered an alley in the same area where an office of a courier company was located. An inquiry of staff at the office revealed the identity of one of the suspects as Shiv Mangal Singh (38), a native of Ahoda village of Rajapur tehsil of the Chitrakoot district in Uttar Pradesh who had been working as a courier delivery executive for some time. This became a turning point in the probe as the team obtained Singh's cell number and eventually started tracking its live location. When the police started tracking, the phone was on the move and initially triangulated at Parner town in Pune's neighbouring district Ahilyanagar (earlier known as Ahmednagar). A team was deployed to track and arrest the suspect. When the team reached the location, the picture become clearer as the police now found out that Singh and one more person were travelling on a bus and had halted at that location for food. What followed was a late night chase on the Samruddhi Highway till the time the police teams intercepted the bus at a toll plaza in Washim district. Police arrested Singh and his accomplice Somdatta Dube (22), who is also a native of Ahoda village and worked as a watchman in Pune. The probe revealed that Singh and Dube had been working in Pune for some time before the incident. It was during their questioning that the police finally established the identity of the victim as Jitendra Tripathi — alias Pappu (30), who was from Ahoda too — had come to Pune less than a week prior in search of work. The two had bludgeoned Tripathi to death following repeated fights and arguments with him since his arrival in Pune. The duo strangled and bludgeoned Tripati to death following a heated argument and fight the previous night. "A chargesheet was filed against the duo in the court within 90 days of their arrest. Singh and Dube are currently in prison under judicial custody and the case is pending before the court." an officer from Pimpri Chinchwad police said.
