Man arrested for murdering partner and throwing her body in stream near Gadhinglaj

Kolhapur: Police arrested a 34-year-old man for allegedly murdering a 40-year-old woman and dumping her body in the jungles near Gadhinglaj, after a headless and limbless torso was found in a stream at Ghanticha Jhara on Feb 8.Relatives identified the body, and the postmortem was carried out on the spot. It was concluded that the identified woman — s Sunita Sanjay Kesarkar from Bhashaon village — had fallen prey to wild animals, and subsequently the relatives took her body and cremated it. However, given the questions surrounding the crime scene, the police carried out a parallel investigation, which led to the conclusion that the woman was murdered by her partner on Jan 18 and the body was thrown in the jungle.The police made the identification through the clothes. However, the gold jewellery the woman was wearing was missing, as was the mobile phone she was carrying. The woman was identified as Sunita Sanjay Kesarkar from Bhashaon village."We got to know through our sources that the woman had a partner who was also missing from Bhadgaon since the body was found in the stream. We waited until Saturday, when the man, Pravin Chinchewadi, arrived in the village. We arrested him, and he confessed to the crime. A case of murder has been registered at Gadhinglaj police station," said inspector Sushant Chavan, of the local crime branch.According to the confession, the accused was fed up with the woman, who used to threaten him that she would tell his wife, whom he married three years ago, about the affair they had. She also threatened him and sought money. On Jan 18, he took her to the jungles of Mahagaon, strangled her, and threw the body in a stream. The postmortem attributed the disappearance of body parts to an attack by wild animals."The man took the gold jewellery the woman was wearing along with her mobile phone. He sold the gold to a jeweller and threw the mobile. We are collecting technical evidence to match the confession," said Chavan.