Motiram Marathe (83) was arrested on Tuesday on the charge of shooting dead his grandson, Abhay Manik Marathe (33)
Pune Rural police arrested Motiram Marathe (83) on the charge of shooting dead his grandson, Abhay Manik Marathe (33), on Monday afternoon. Motiram’s daughter Rajashri Pawar (58), son Hiraman Marathe (54), daughter-in-law Kavita Marathe (Hiraman’s wife) and grandson Manoj Marathe (32) [Hiraman’s son] were also taken into custody for allegedly destroying evidence. Pune: The bullet injury’s nature on the chest of a Lonavla lawyer helped police on Tuesday decode his family’s attempt to pass off his murder over a property dispute as a death due to accidental firing and arrest his 83-year-old grandfather, along with four other relatives.
They revealed that Abhay and his grandfather, Motiram, had a dispute over the sale of one of their properties.
Superintendent of police (Pune Rural) Sandeep Singh Gill said Abhay’s body was sent to Sassoon General Hospital in Pune for post-mortem. He said the police team questioned the hotel workers and manager. He said Abhay’s sister, his uncle, the latter’s wife and their son were alerted after the incident. Thereafter, they informed Abhay’s parents about the incident,” Gill said.
Gill, additional superintendent of police Shubham Kumar and inspector Pramod Kshirsagar of the local crime branch inspected the body and became suspicious after noticing the bullet wound on the chest. Motiram opposed selling it. They came to the hotel and moved Abhay’s body into one of the rooms. They removed the CCTV cameras and digital video recorder (DVR) and hid them. “They threatened the hotel employees against revealing anything about the incident to anyone.
His family members told doctors and police that he was cleaning his grandfather’s 12-bore rifle inside their hotel in Bhushi when it accidentally went off. The bullet struck Abhay in the chest, killing him instantly. Lonavla City police registered an accidental death case and began an investigation.
Lonavla City police on Monday afternoon received information from a hospital that Abhay, a lawyer from Bhushi in Lonavla, had succumbed to a bullet injury.