Mumbai: Evading arrest for 22 years, a 44-year-old man was finally arrested from Pune for allegedly setting the parents of his girlfriend ablaze for marrying her to someone else, said the Crime Branch Unit 12. In 2001, a case was filed against the accused, Yashwant Baburao Shinde, at the Kurar police station for killing the duo. Shortly, he absconded and even broke off contact with his family to dodge the police.
According to the information received from the Crime Branch, the deceased opposed the relationship between Shinde and their daughter. Hence, they married her to someone else, enraging the accused. Subsequently, he allegedly burnt Jeharbi Rehman and her husband who were at the Goodluck Hotel, Kurar, at that time. They succumbed to their burns while undergoing treatment.
Shinde worked in Pune since 2005 as painter
Shinde's three accomplices – Mohiddin Shaikh, Nagnath Telnge and Venkat Vachwad – were arrested, but Shinde managed to continue giving a slip to the police for more than two decades. He first went into hiding in Bengaluru, after which he came to Pune in 2005 and started working as a painter. He even got married and had two children, but didn't keep his parents in loop.
With the information gathered from his friends coupled with technical analysis, the police traced Shinde's location to Pune's Kondhwa area and nabbed him from his hideout. According to sources, he had called the other arrested accused from his native in Latur to assist him in committing the murders.
Crime Branch Inspector Sudhir Dalvi said that Shinde thought that cops won't be behind him anymore as 22 long years have passed since the crime.
