Two ex-colleagues kill man for resisting thefts in firm

PUNE: A man from Bihar was murdered last month by his former colleague for dissuading him from stealing machinery from a “sealed” company at Takave-Budruk in Maval, where they worked earlier, and its watchman — ex-co-worker of both — destroyed evidence of the crime.

A crime branch team of the Pune rural police, led by inspector Dayanand Gawade, arrested the duo — Navneet Patil (47) of

Kanhe

Phata and

Arjunsingh Sunar

(45) — currently residing at Maval and having their roots in Nepal. The deceased has been identified as

Guruji

alias

Virendra Singh

(34).

Sunar, the watchman of the “sealed” company in Takave-Budruk, informed the

Vadgaon Maval

police on September 27 about an unidentified body found near Indrayani Industrial Estate. The police cremated the man’s body after post-mortem because his identity could not be ascertained.
Gawade said when the police team checked the clothes of the deceased man, they suspected that he could be a labourer working in some company in Takave-Budruk. “We got information that one person, known as ‘Guruji’, was missing for a few days. We also came to know that he mostly lingered with the watchman, Sunar, who had informed the police about the unidentified body,” Gawade said.

The police then took Sunar into custody for questioning. “Initially, he told us that he did not know Guruji. After sustained questioning, he admitted that the deceased was Guruji alias Virendra Singh,” he said.

Sunar revealed that he, Guruji and Patil worked in the company at Takave-Budruk about a year ago. The owner later shut it down because of loss. Guruji and Patil lost their jobs, but Sunar was retained as its watchman. As the owner failed to repay the loan, the company was sealed by a bank.

Gawade said Sunar, Patil and Guruji had once stolen some machinery from the sealed company and sold them off. “On September 25, Patil again went to the firm for stealing more parts, but Guruji stopped him from entering the company premises,” he said.

Angered by this, Patil bludgeoned Guruji to death and dumped his body near the company. “When Sunar came to know about the murder, instead of alerting the police, he helped Patil destroy evidence. He destroyed Guruji’s clothes and belongings from the latter’s room and then informed the police about the unidentified body,” Gawade said.

“We then rushed to Patil’s house and arrested him,” Gawade added.