Pune Crime Files: How offering a ride to 4 strangers turned fatal for Nashik cab driver

Around 2.30 am on January 28, the Gaikwad 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 person case at Alephata police station under the Pune Rural police.

At around 9.30 am on January 28, while police were actively searching for Gaikwad, his body was discovered in the Santwadi area. His hands were bound behind his back with a nylon rope and a zip tie, and initial autopsy findings indicated that he had been strangled. The murder investigation was taken up jointly by teams from the Alephata police station and the Pune Rural police’s Local Crime Branch.

As part of the investigation, the police reviewed footage from dozens of CCTV cameras on the approach routes to the area. A significant breakthrough came when Gaikwad’s vehicle was spotted on a hotel’s CCTV camera along the Nashik–Pune highway corridor.

By piecing together video evidence from multiple locations, investigators traced the car’s movement—first heading toward the area where his body was later discovered, then continuing in the direction of Malshej Ghat. Both the footage and ground inquiries indicated that, at one stage, four people were inside the car along with Gaikwad.

Meanwhile, a team which was on the lookout for the car found it abandoned in Kasara Ghat, along the route to Nashik. Continued analysis of CCTV footage helped police identify suspects who were captured travelling in the vehicle. Over the following three days, till January 31, investigators arrested three suspects: Vishal Ananda Chavan, 22; Mayur Vijay Solse, 23; and Ruturaj Vijay Sonavane, 21, all residents of the Gangapur Road area in Nashik. The investigation to arrest the fourth suspect continues even now.

Driver resisted carjacking attempt, say police

Investigators found out that the suspects had boarded Gaikwad’s car during his return journey to Nashik from Pune. They used the pretext of hitching a ride, but wanted to hijack the vehicle, said the police.

The sequence of events, as brought out by the investigation, was that they allegedly strangled him after he resisted their attempt. The group then disposed of his body and fled the scene, said the police.

It was soon revealed that the trio are hardened criminals. They allegedly intended to use the hijacked car for an armed robbery in which they wanted to target a shop in Nashik. The police said they, however, decided to abandon it on the way since they thought the vehicle would be flagged in the murder investigation after Gaikwad’s body was found. Solse and Chavan are facing charges of murder registered at Gangapur police station in Nashik in 2022.

As the police continued their probe, they found out that these suspects were involved in a case of carjacking at Chakan police station registered in 2024, which had remained unsolved till the time the murder case was cracked.

“The chargesheet in the case was filed subsequently. All three accused are currently in prison under judicial custody. A coordinated search for the fourth accused continued. The wanted suspect in the case also has multiple offences registered against him,” said an officer who was part of the probe.

The case underscores the dangers faced by drivers who pick up unknown passengers outside their assigned duties. Authorities have reiterated their warning against this practice, noting that similar incidents of passengers turning violent have been reported in the past.