Dacoits strike yet again; 9 hurt

Among the five persons grievously injured when five armed dacoits attacked them at Malwadi village near Indapur, about 155 km from Pune on the Pune-Solapur Highway late last evening were two children.

Interestingly, the crimes took place while the entire area was being combed by the Pune Rural Police, put on an alert by Superintendent of Police (SP) Ashok Dhivre in the wake of the two dacoities reported from various parts of the city during the last two days.

The victims, all landless labourers working at the farms of Gokulsheth Shah, were fast asleep when the dacoits attacked them with sticks and raided their residential quarters, located in a farm about one and a half km from Indapur, around 11.30 pm.

The incident came to light when the profusely bleeding victims Yashwant Gopinath Gadade (30), his wife Chhaya (25), six-year-old son Kiran, neighbour Jaibai Prabhakar Doke (35) and Jaibai’s son Sanjay laboured their way to the cottage hospital at Indapur around 1.30 am.

All the five injured, who were initially admitted to the cottage hospital, were shifted to a private hospital in Indapur later in the morning. The hospital sources said all the injured are out of danger.

In a complaint lodged with the Indapur police, Gadade has stated that the culprits escaped with his wife’s gold mangalsutra, silver anklets and some exclusive garments.

The complaint stated that the Gadades’ and the Dokes’, who usually sleep inside the residential quarters built for them at the farm, had yesterday slept outside their huts in a bid to find a respite from the summer heat.

The dacoits attacked the victims with sticks and stones immediately after arriving at the farm. All the pleas by the victims fell on deaf ears as the culprits beat them up for nearly half an hour. After relieving the victims of their ornaments of garments, the dacoits ran away towards Indapur, said Assistant Police Inspector Gopal Thube from Indapur.

The dacoits belonged to the age group of 20 to 25 years and wore T-shirts and shorts. They conversed in Marathi, said Thube. The modus operandi employed by the culprits match with that used by some culprits belonging to the Pardhi community in the past, he added.

Since a naka bandi had been imposed at various places in the district, armed policemen were posted at the State Transport Bus Terminus at Indapur and Tembhurni Naka – both places located at a distance of about one and a half kilometre away from the crime spot throughout the night, he said. Besides, several policemen were deployed to patrol in various sensitive areas in the vicinity.

The sniffer dogs, which were rushed to the spot, failed to pick up the trail of the culprits. No fingerprints were found. SP Dhivre and Deputy Superintendent of Police N D Chavan also visited the spot.

Vimal Chaudhari, her husband Vitthal, brother-in-law Sudam and sister-in-law Shantabai were seriously injured when four dacoits attacked them with sticks and axes at their house at Kangaon near Yavat, about 100 kms from here on Pune Solapur Road, around 2.30 am. All the injured have been admitted to a hospital at Yevat, police said.

The dacoits attacked the Chaudharis’ immediately after they opened the door to check as to why their dogs were barking. The culprits escaped with cash, ornaments and utensils totally estimated to be worth Rs 1,750.