3 held for murdering elderly driver who hitched a ride with him

The deceased, identified as Rajesh Baburao Gaikwad, a resident of Nashik, came to Pune from Nashik on January 27 for a trip, for which his services were hired. Around 7.30pm the same day, he called his wife saying that he would reach home by 9.30pm. However, around 10.30pm, his wife again received a call from her husband’s phone saying some person had found the phone lying on the roadside along the Pune-Nashik highway in Santwadi area. The callers kept the phone at a nearby hotel.

Around 2.30am on January 28, Gaikwad’s family reached the hotel and searched for him in the area where the phone was found. However, Gaikwad and his car could not be traced. The family registered a missing persons complaint at Alephata police station under the Pune rural police.

As the police launched a search for Gaikwad around 9.30am on January 28, his body was found in the Santwadi area. Gaikwad’s hands were tied behind his back with a zip tie. The initial autopsy reports suggested that he was strangled to death. A coordinated probe was launched by teams from Alephata police station and the local crime branch of the Pune rural police.

The police teams checked dozens of security cameras installed in the area. The initial lead in the case came when Gaikwad’s car was spotted in a CCTV camera of a hotel on the Nashik to Pune corridor of the highway. Based on multiple CCTV footages, police found that the car went towards the location where the body was found and then proceeded towards Malshej ghat. CCTV footage and on ground investigation also revealed that at one point, there were four persons sitting in the car along with Gaikwad.

Police found Gaikwad’s car abandoned in Kasara ghat on the way to Nashik. Further analysis of CCTV footages ascertained the identities of the suspects who were seen in Gaikwad’s car. Over the last three days, police arrested the three suspects—Vishal Ananda Chavan (22), Mayur Vijay Solse (23) and Ruturaj Vijay Sonavane (21), all residents of Gangapur Road area in Nashik.

Superintendent of Police for Pune rural Pankaj Deshmukh said, “Probe suggests that the suspects hitched a ride in Gaikwad’s car along the way with an intention to hijack it. We suspect that they murdered him by strangulation, possibly because Gaikwad resisted. The suspects then dumped his body and fled. Our search for the fourth suspect is currently on. The case highlights the risks of car drivers picking up unknown passengers outside of their assigned work. We are appealing to drivers not to resort to this practice. Multiple incidents of such passengers attacking the drivers have been reported in the past.”

Dinesh Tayde, in-charge inspector of Alephata police station, said, “The three suspects are hardened criminals. Probe suggests that these suspects intended to use the hijacked car for an armed robbery in Nashik, possibly at a shop. But they dropped the plan since they thought the vehicle will be flagged in the murder investigation. Solse and Chavan are accused in a murder case registered at Gangapur police station in Nashik in 2022.”

Inspector Avinash Shilimkar of the local crime branch (LCB) of the Pune Rural police said, “Our probe has also unearthed the involvement of these suspects in a case of carjacking registered at Chakan police station last year, which had remained unsolved till now. The wanted suspect in the case also has multiple offences registered against him.”