Overview
- Firefighters found a burnt car with a charred body on the Ausa-Vanwada road late Saturday, initially recorded as an accidental death.
- Relatives identified the remains as Ganesh Gopinath Chavan from jewelry, but a Crime Branch search found him alive in Sindhudurg within 24 hours.
- Police arrested Chavan and alleged he murdered 50-year-old Govind Kishan Yadav, then set the car ablaze to make it appear that Chavan had died.
- The superintendent of police said Yadav, picked up while inebriated, was strapped into the driver’s seat before the blaze was started using matchsticks and plastic with the petrol cap left open.
- Officers cited loans of about Rs 57 lakh and a term policy worth Rs 1 crore as the motive, with a post-mortem completed and DNA confirmation expected as the investigation continues.