Pune: Caretaker arrested for murder of Marathi theatre director's 70-yr-old wife

Deepali Kothari

Deepali Kothari

The police on Saturday arrested the caretaker for the murder of Deepali Kothari, 70, the wife of Marathi theatre director Dilip Kothari, whose body was found at their home in Maithali Society in Pune's Kothrud area last week. Deputy commissioner of Police Basavraj Teli said, "We have detained Kishan Mudhe, the caretaker, and are conducting further investigations. Mudhe worked a 12-hour shift at the house as Dilip is bedridden. However, he left an hour early on Thursday."

Also read: Marathi director Dilip Kothari's wife found dead after she was brutally throttled

On Thursday, neighbours spotted smoke coming from her home. They realised Deepali was on fire when they entered her house. They rushed Deepali Kolhatkar to Sassoon Hospital but she had succumbed to her injuries. The case was initially registered as a case of accidental death. The post-mortem report however pointed to head and burn injuries and that she had been throttled and beaten up. Senior inspector Rekha Salunke of Alankar police station is investigating the case.

PI Salunke said, "Deepali lived with her husband and mother. The residents alerted us on Thursday night. We, along with fire brigade officials, reached the spot and found Deepali had suffered fatal burn injuries. There was a lamp near her body. A post-mortem revealed that her mouth had been gagged."

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