How a man’s grudge over his son’s death led to the murder of 7 members of a family

In January 2023, the bodies of seven members of a family were fished out of the Bhima River in Pune’s Daund taluka. Investigation by the Pune Rural police indicated that they were murdered by relatives. Subsequently, five people were arrested and a minor was apprehended for their alleged role in the murders.As per the First Information Report (FIR) lodged at Yavat police station on January 25 that year, Sub-Inspector Sanjay Nagargoje found the body of an unidentified woman in the river in Pargaon village around 12.30 pm on January 18. Subsequently, on January 20, the body of aman was found near the same spot. On January 22, two more bodies were detected, including that of a woman.A mobile phone found on the woman's body led the police to determine that she was Sangita Mohan Pawar, 40, a resident of Gevrai in Maharashtra’s Beed district. Of-ficers contacted her family members and the other three bodies were identified as that of Sangita’s husband Mohan Uttam Pawar, 45, their son-in-law Shamrao Pandit Fulaware, 28, and daughter Rani Fulaware, 24. The Fulawares resided in Hatole village, Washi, in Osmanabad district. The family informed the police that Shamrao and Rani had three chil-dren and they were missing. Further search led the officers to find the bodies of Ritesh, 7, Chotu, 5, and Krushna, 3, in the river on January 24.The probe revealed Mohan’s mo-bile phone was active at Nighoj in Ahilyanagar district on January 17 and at Pargaon on January 18. It also revealed that Sangita’s mobile phone was active in Nighoj on Janu-ary 17 and at Shirur in Pune on January 18.

- GNS News Agency, May 9

Meanwhile, family members expressed doubts re-garding Mohan’s relative Ashok Kalyan Pawar's involve-ment in the murders. As stated in the FIR, Ashok had lost his son Dhananjay Pawar in an accident but he believed that the youth was murdered by Mohan. Relatives told the police that Ashok used to talk about killing Mohan and his family.On being questioned, Ashok and his family claimed to be present at their residence in Nighoj on January 17 and January 18, and said they had no clue about the what led to the murders, officers said. The tower location of their mo-bile phones, however, placed the family members in Shirur on January 18 a