Pre-Planned Murder Over Money: Pimpri-Chinchwad Police Arrest Four In Chilling Charholi Killing Inside Toyota Fortuner

Pimpri-Chinchwad: Pimpri-Chinchwad Police have nabbed four in connection with the Charholi murder, which happened inside a Toyota Fortuner, officials announced on Saturday. According to preliminary reports, the murder happened due to arguments over financial reasons between a group of five friends, due to which they murdered a man on Wednesday evening.  

Watch Murder Video:

The Detection Branch (DB) of Dighi Police Station and the Anti-Extortion Squad and Unit 3 of the Crime Branch took the action. Police have arrested Vikrant Thakur (38, Khed), Sumit Patel (31, Dighi), Amit Pathare (35, Charholi), and Akash Pathare (23, Charholi) in this case.

The Murder

According to police reports, Nitin Gilbile (37, Wadmukhwadi) was brutally murdered on Wednesday evening in Charholi under the limits of Dighi Police Station. CCTV footage of this incident had gone viral on social media. In it, it was seen that Gilbile was invited inside a Toyota Fortuner car and was shot in the head with a country-made pistol. One of the accused had then pulled the deceased outside and driven away. The CCTV footage also showed the deceased's leg being stuck below the car, but the accused simply ran over it and absconded.

Dighi Police and Crime Branch teams rushed to the spot. They analysed CCTV footage and started investigating the matter.

The Arrests & Police Action

Crime Branch and Dighi Police started parallel investigations in this case. A police official from the Anti Extortion Squad received a tip-off that the accused Thakur and Patel were hidden in a lodge in Tamhini Ghat, on the west side of the district. With the help of the rural police, the squad laid a trap and detained the accused in the wee hours of Friday.

On Friday afternoon, Dighi Police Station's DB received a tip-off from a confidential source about the prime accused, Amit Pathare, being in the Wagoli area. Police went there and investigated. A man was found to be suspiciously walking, and when he saw the police, he started running. Police detained him, and it was confirmed to be Amit Pathare. All three accused were interrogated, and it was determined the fourth accused was still on the run.

The location of the fourth accused, Akash Pathare, was determined, and Crime Branch Unit 3 arrested him on Saturday morning.

What Was The Motive Behind The Murder?

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 3) Maruti Jagtap announced the arrests through a press conference. He said, “According to preliminary information, it has been determined that the accused and deceased were friends. The investigation has revealed that the motive behind the murder was a financial dispute among friends, and the murder was pre-planned. How they planned the murder, or from where they secured the weapon, is being investigated.”

DCP Jagtap further said that the weapon used in the murder is yet to be found. He also said that Amit Pathare and Vikrant Thakur are notorious criminals on record but didn't tell the details of their criminal history.  Police have secured police custody of the accused.

Police Team In Action

The action was taken under the guidance of Pimpri-Chinchwad Commissioner of Police Vinoy Kumar Choubey, JCP Dr Shashikant Mahavarkar, Addl CP Sarang Awad, DCP (Crime) Dr Shivaji Pawar, DCP Shweta Khedkar, DCP (Zone 3) Maruti Jagtap, ACP (Crime 1) Dr Vishal Hire, ACP (Crime 2) Pravin More, and ACP (MIDC Bhosari Division) Sudhakar Yadav.

The teams were led by Sr PIs Pramod Wagh (in charge of Dighi Police Station), Santosh Kasbe (in charge of Unit 3), Rajendra Patil (in charge of the Anti-Extortion Squad), and PI (Crime) of Dighi Police Station Vinayak Patil. The team included API Shrinivas Kamuni, PSIs Aaba Katpale, Deepak Rahane, Siddhar Shinde, and Police Constables Raju Jadhav, Swapnil Landge, Yogesh Nagargoje, Nitin Tarade, Ramdas Bahirat, Chandrakant Pardhi, Sudhir Dolas, Chandrakant Gade, Nitin Lawate, Umesh Kasbe, Yogesh Shelke, Babaji Jadhav, Chetan Salve, and Datta Munde.