Months after a 50-year-old female farmer was believed to have been mauled to death by a leopard in a village in Pune's Daund taluka, police investigation has revealed she was murdered by her husband's nephew.
On Tuesday morning, Pune Rural police arrested the nephew, who is a former deputy sarpanch of Kadethan village, and a labourer who works for him, as reported by The Indian Express.
Woman was Found Dead in Sugarcane Field, Forest Officials Believed it to be a Leopard Attack
According to the police, Latabai Baban Dhawade, 50, was found dead in her family's sugarcane field on the afternoon of December 7 last year. Since the area is known to have frequent human-leopard conflicts and initial observations pointed to such an attack, forest officials prima facie attributed the death to a leopard attack.
An officer from Pune Rural police said, "Because a blood-stained rock was found near the spot where the body was found, we had launched a parallel inquiry. Since there was a lot of public outcry over the human-leopard conflict, we conducted the probe discreetly."
A detailed forensic analysis report received recently ruled out animal attack as the cause of death, the officer said. "We worked further based on ground intelligence. The probe led us to former deputy sarpanch Anil Popat Dhawade, 40, who is the nephew of Latabai's husband. The investigation also revealed the role of Satilal Valmik More, 30, a labourer working for Dhawade."
Victim was Bludgeoned to Death and Scratch Marks Inflicted on Her Body to Make it Look Like a Leopard Attack
According to the officer, "The probe indicated that Latabai was bludgeoned to death with the rock and scratch marks were inflicted on her body subsequently to make it look like a leopard attack."
Narayan Deshmukh, Inspector in-charge of the local police station, said, "After the investigation pointed to murder, a case was registered. We have arrested the two accused and are probing the motive behind the murder."
