Pune: Tailor tag helps police unravel murder after body found in gunny bag on Nira river bank

“While we immediately launched a murder probe after the body was found, there were no apparent leads or evidence in the initial phase of the investigation. Important breakthrough in the case came when the tailor tag on the shirt of the deceased led our investigation team to a tailor in Dharashiv (earlier known as Osmanabad) district,” said Pankaj Deshmukh, Superintendent of Police, Pune rural.

“The tag was of a tailor from Lohara taluka of Dharashiv district. The deceased had a tattoo on the back of his palm. With the help of these two clues, we established the identity of the deceased as Siddheshwar Bandu Bhise, 40, who hailed from Vadgaonwadi village of Lohara taluka of Dharashiv. We found out that Bhise worked as a tanker driver. He and his wife Yogita along with their seven-year-old had moved to Pune from Dharashiv two months ago for work. They were living in the Sasane Nagar area near Hadapsar,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police Tanaji Barde.

Police investigation revealed that Yogita (30) had been having an affair with a man identified as Shivaji Baswant Sutar (32), a resident of Tuljapur taluka in Dharashiv, whom she knew from her childhood. On March 3, Sutar had come to meet Yogita. Bhise got to know about their affair when he got up from his sleep. The duo murdered Bhise by strangling him some time in the early hours of March 4. They tied his hands and legs with pieces of a sari. They stuffed the body in a gunny bag, probe has revealed.

“Sutar and Yogita carried the body over 50 kilometres to Sarola in Bhor from Bhise’s home in Sasane Nagar on a bike. When they carried the body, they also took along Yogita’s seven-year-old daughter. They dumped the body in the Nira river at Sarola. We have arrested Yogita and Sutar. They have been remanded to police custody till March 17,” said police inspector Rajesh Gawali, in-charge of Rajgad police station. Probe revealed that on March 9, Yogita had filed a missing complaint about her husband.

Along with charges of murder, police have also invoked charges of destruction of evidence against Yogita and Sutar. Police have also invoked Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act since Bhide belonged to Matang community which is a Scheduled Caste and Sutar belongs to Lingayat community.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Tanaji Barde is probing the case further.