Vaishnavi Hagawane death: Cops probe whether she was threatened at gunpoint
The Pimpri-Chinchwad police are probing whether Vaishnavi Hagawane, who allegedly died by suicide due to harassment over dowry, was threatened at gunpoint by Nilesh Ramchandra Chavan (34), who was arrested from India-Nepal border.
A resident of Karve Nagar, Chavan was made an accused in the dowry death case on May 24 for allegedly causing cruelty to her 10-month-old son.
After a rigorous search operation, police nabbed him at Sunauli in Maharajganj district of Uttar Pradesh, located on the Nepal border, on Friday. He was arrested and brought to the Bavdhan police station, around 4 am on Saturday.
Police then produced Chavan before a court in Pune and sought his custody for five days to investigate his role in the case. Police said Chavan possessed a gun and a gun licence. Police told the court they want to investigate whether he threatened Vaishanvi with the gun.
Police said they are also probing Chavan's financial connections with Vaishnavi's husband Shashank, brother-in-law Sushil and father-in-law Rajendra Hagawane.
Police submitted before the court details of the offence lodged against him at the Warje police station in 2022, under sections 392, 323, 506/2, 504, 34 of the Indian Penal Code. Police said he was on the run for four months in this case, filed by his wife.
Police told the court that Chavan is suspected of being a repeated offender for harassing women. A probe is on to find out whether Chavan has harassed more women in the past.
Police are also investigating his cell phone calls with Vaishnavi's husband and in-laws, booked in the dowry death case. The court passed an order on Saturday, remanding Chavan to police custody till June 3.
According to the police, Vaishnavi allegedly died by suicide at her in-laws' house in Bhukum in the Mulshi taluka of the Pune district on May 16. Her father, Anil Sahebrao Kaspate, 51, a resident of Wakad, lodged an FIR against her husband and in-laws at the Bavdhan Police Station on May 17.
Police arrested Vaishnavi's husband, Shashank, 27, father-in-law and expelled NCP leader Rajendra, 57, mother-in-law Lata, 54, sister-in-law Karishma, 31, and brother-in-law Sushil, 27.
Also, three others were arrested for helping Rajendra and Sushil Hagawane, while they were on the run.
Shashank, Lata and Karishma were lodged in Yerwada jail after a court granted them judicial custody. Police said Chavan is a close friend of Karishma Hagawane. He was arrested while he was allegedly trying to escape to Nepal. He had allegedly taken illegal custody of Vaishnavi's boy after her death.
On May 22, a separate FIR was lodged against Chavan at the Warje Police Station in Pune city for allegedly threatening Vaishnavi's father and family members when they went to their residence to take custody of her son on May 20.
Subsequently, the Pune city police started the procedure for cancelling gun licences of Nilesh Chavan, Shashank and Sushil Hagawane.
Meanwhile, the police produced Rajendra and Sushil Hagawane before the court on Saturday and sought an extension in custody for three days to probe them along with Chavan. Court extended their custody till June 3.
Police said suicide note was not found with Vaishnavi's body. In the FIR, her father alleged that at the time of Vaishnavi's wedding, they had given 510 grams of gold, silver, and a Fortuner SUV to her in-laws. The FIR further alleged that Vaishnavi's in-laws had been abusing her, mentally and physically, asking her to bring Rs 2 crore more to purchase a property.
Her father also said in the FIR that there were injury marks on Vaishnavi's body, alleging that this suggested physical abuse, adding that he feared that his daughter had been murdered.
Meanwhile, police probe revealed that Vaishnavi had attempted suicide by consuming 'rat poison' on November 27, 2023. Also the postmortem of her dead body had revealed the cause of her death as 'death due to ligature compression of neck, with evidence of multiple blunt injuries over body.'
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