The persistence of a mother, who firmly believed that her son was murdered, eventually led to the unravelling of his death seven years later and the arrest of one person on Thursday by Raigad police, with the help of the victim’s mobile phone that was recovered in August.
According to police, the death of Samod Mahadev Shedge, 30, on August 7, 2016, a year after his wedding, was passed off as an accident. However, it came to light now that he was allegedly murdered by his wife’s lover. Police are ascertaining the role of his wife who has not been charged in the case as yet.
Additional SP Atul Zende said, “We have arrested one Sandeep Kalambe for the murder of Shedge after we recovered the victim’s mobile phone that had been missing for seven years.”
According to Shedge’s wife, the couple was travelling on bike on the Mahad – Pandharpur road when a four-wheeler coming from behind knocked down the two-wheeler and fled on August 7, 2016. The wife said she managed to jump off the vehicle and survived.
Based on her statement, the police registered an FIR of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against unidentified persons. They, however, could not trace the four-wheeler and closed the case.
Shedge’s mother Sarita, however, suspected that something was amiss but police did not believe her. She then approached the Bombay High Court and sought the intervention of the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC).
Recently, the SHRC passed an order asking the Raigad police to register a murder case and probe the matter again.
Zende, who began investigating the case, said, “The matter was seven years old. Our technical team started probing the matter and based on the IMEI number of Shedge’s mobile phone, it was traced to a person in Raigad.”
On questioning, the person led police to Kalambe from whom he purchased the mobile in 2021. “During the pandemic, since classes were online, was looking for a phone for his children to attend school. Kalambe owed him some money and offered this mobile phone to him,” Zende said.
Based on this, police called up Kalambe for questioning. However, he could not give satisfactory answer about where he procured the phone from. Later during interrogation, police found that he knew the deceased’s wife and was in a relationship with her before her marriage.
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As per police, when Shedge got to know about their affair, he said that he would kill Kalambe. Hence, Kalambe allegedly decided to murder him and the police suspect Shedge’s wife also played a role in the crime. On the day of the murder, he was waiting near the highway at a pre-decided spot.
“Near the spot, the deceased’s wife jumped off the bike due to which he fell off. Kalambe who was waiting there hit on his head with a rod and even chased him for 200 metres when Shedge tried to escape. Eventually he succumbed to the injuries. Kalambe then took the deceased’s phone and made it look like an accident,” Zende said. On Thursday, Kalambe was arrested by police on charges of murder and destruction of evidence.
Zende added, “We are still ascertaining the role of the wife and will decide on further course of action based on evidence.”