Odd bloodstain on wall prompts Pune police to probe murder in drowning death

Inspector Shashikant Chavan, in-charge of Loni Kalbhor police station, said, “Our investigation suggests that Ghule and Dhotre both took alcohol together on Monday noon. While Ghule thereafter went to sleep in his rented room, Dhotre went to his bike and kept revving its engine by pressing on the accelerator. A disturbed Ghule asked him to stop, but Dhotre did not and this led to a brawl.

Probe suggests that Ghule forcibly took Dhotre to the tank below ground level, which has a tin lid in the corner within the house premises, and drowned him. “He returned to his room and went to sleep,” said the inspector.

Later in the evening, the police officer said Dhotre’s family could not find him anywhere, and upon searching he was found dead in the tank. While prima facie it seemed like an accidental drowning, a deeper probe pointed to murder, police said.

“We found bloodstains on the wall next to the tank lid. These stains were at some height from the ground. If this would have been accidental drowning, blood stains due to scratches would have been near the lid. Since questioning revealed that Dhotre and Ghule were drinking together that afternoon, we interrogated Ghule and he confessed to killing Dhotre after a fight over revving of the bike engine. Ghule was arrested and remanded to police custody,” Chavan said.