Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: A retired professor who had been missing for the past few days was found buried in a ditch in Gevrai Tanda. The police have arrested his friend, a social media ‘Reel’ star, and two accomplices for the murder.
The deceased has been identified as Rajaram Subhashrao Londhe (60), a resident of Jyotinagar. He was a retired professor from the Government Engineering College. While his wife and two sons reside in Pune, Londhe lived in Jyotinagar and was a native of Saundare in Barshi Taluka. He had reportedly developed a friendship with a social media influencer, Vishal Vikas Rathod (24).
The Incident
On February 5, Londhe went to a party in Daulatabad with Vishal Rathod, his two accomplices—Akash Vinod Pawar (32, resident of Meghvariya Tanda) and Karan Vishal Aade (22, resident of Girner Tanda)—and two women.
Briefing the press on Sunday, Commissioner of Police (CP) Praveen Pawar stated that Vishal and his accomplices shot Londhe dead over a financial dispute and later buried his body in a ditch in Gevrai Tanda.
The Investigation
The perpetrators attempted to destroy evidence using a pre-planned strategy. However, the Crime Branch conducted a thorough investigation. Based on technical evidence and CCTV footage, police arrested Vishal, Akash, and Karan.
Investigation revealed that Vishal had taken ₹50 lakh from Londhe to produce a reality show. When the show failed to materialise, Londhe began pressuring Vishal to return the money. Instead of repaying the debt, Vishal lured Londhe to the Daulatabad party.
A Planned Execution
On February 6, Vishal staged a cover-up, claiming he had dropped Londhe off at Ciigma Hospital. When Londhe failed to return home, his brother, Uttam, lodged a missing person complaint at the Osmanpura Police Station. Feeling the initial investigation was slow, Uttam met CP Praveen Pawar to express his suspicions regarding Vishal and his associates.
Under interrogation, Vishal confessed to shooting Londhe in the head near the Shajapur Railway Bridge in the early hours of February 6. It was revealed that while Vishal had returned ₹10 lakh, he was unable to pay the remaining balance. Following a heated argument on February 3, Vishal decided to eliminate the professor.
Two days before the murder, Vishal used a JCB to dig two ditches in Gevrai Tanda. Following the party on February 5, Vishal executed his plan while returning to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. After the confession, police exhumed Londhe’s body from the site.
The three accused were produced before the court on Monday and have been remanded to police custody for three days.
The police action was executed under the guidance of DCP Ratnakar Navale and ACP Ashok Rajput by a team including PI Gajanan Kalyankar, PI Sangram Tathe, API Shivaji Chaure, PSI Praveen Wagh, Abhishek Chikhlikar, and others.
