Unsolved Crimes: The 2007 murder of Lalita Pinge in Shivaji park flat

𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦: 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘗𝘑 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴.

It was a murder most foul. Lalita Pinge, 58, was alone in her flat in Parag building, Shivaji Park, on September 10, 2007 when unknown person/s entered her home and slit her throat with a sharp weapon. Pinge was the wife of Bhalchandra Pinge, who was the owner of the then popular Pinge’s Classes, which had several branches all over Mumbai.

The murder in the heart of Mumbai caused a huge sensation. The police formed several crack teams of ace detectives to track down the killer/s. But even after 16 years, the shocking murder remains unsolved.

When top IPS officer Rakesh Maria took over as the Commissioner of Police of Mumbai on Feb 15, 2014, he said one of his priorities will be to crack the Pinge murder case.

On Maria’s instructions, an elite team revisited the flat where the gruesome murder was committed, and reevaluated forensic and other evidence. However, the personnel remained clueless about both the identity of the killer/s and the motive. The police said the killer/s could have been known to the deceased as there was no evidence of forced entry into the flat. The robbery angle was also ruled out as nothing was stolen.

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The murder came to light when Pinge’s son Ajay, who was then 28 years old, returned home from his office at around 8.30pm. Despite ringing the bell several times the door was not opened. He then used the duplicate key to open the door. On stepping in he found his mother lying in a pool of blood with her throat slit. He checked her pulse and found it was not there. He then called his father and a relative.

The police arrived on the scene almost immediately and started the investigation, while the crime branch commenced a parallel probe. Subsequently, the probe was taken over by the crime branch. The statements of several members of the Pinge family, relatives and neighbours were recorded, the dog squad was roped in, but all these efforts yielded nothing.

In 2011, the crime branch filed an A-Summary report before the magistrate’s court. An ‘A’ Summary report is filed when a crime is found to be true, but remains undetected. Sources in the crime branch said they have not stopped the investigation and that they are determined to solve the crime. They pointed out that there are instances when a culprit has been arrested even after 20 years. “We don’t give up,” an inspector observed.