Identity crisis ruined businessman's plan to stage his own murder

Under stress due to a Rs 3 crore bank loan, Deepak Chaudhari meets friends and asks them to help him fake his death so that he can evade repayment

Pune: Craving for a masala Bollywood movie? Ditch the theatre and read on, because that's exactly what this 'murder' plan sounds like - a film from the 90s.

Reeling under a loan of Rs 3 crore, a Pune businessman hatched a plot for his own murder to get out from repaying it, and also killed a labourer from Nepal, and gave him his (the businessman's) identity to mislead the police into thinking that he was indeed dead, with the future plan being running away from the city after taking the money from the insurance policy in his name and returning after two years with a new identity.

They meet a labourer at Pune station, and on the promise of a job, take him around for 3 days and then kill him, putting Chaudhari's ID cards in his pocket

He, however, is on the run now, after the police investigation managed to unravel the whole plan.

Debt deed
The incident took place in Urali Kanchan area, which falls under the jurisdiction of Pune rural police. A criminal complaint has been filed by the Urali Kanchan police against Deepak Pundalik Chaudhari (35), a resident of Peth, and his accomplices Anil Sainath Chaudhari (47) and Pappu alias Pramod Kundalik Chaudhari (32). The three have been booked under sections 302 (murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. Inspector Bandopant Kondubhiri and assistant inspector Dattatray Darade are investigating the case.

When Chaudhari's relatives fail to identify the body, saying his build was heavier than the deceased's, the police smell a rat and start their probe

Deepak, who deals in cement and pipes, had taken a Rs 3 crore loan from a Solapur-based co-operative bank for his business as well as to repay an earlier bank loan of Rs 1.5 crore.

Deepak, who has two wives, had been facing losses in his business for the last six months, and hence, he confided in his two friends and asked them to help him plan his fake murder so that he could escape.

They detain his friends and interrogate them, who then spill the beans and reveal the whole plan. Chaudhari is on the run and a hunt has been launched

Vital clues
An officer said, "On March 8, we received a call about a case of accident near Urali Kanchan check post, where a man's body was found lying on the road. The post-mortem report revealed that the deceased had multiple head injuries after being repeatedly hit with a heavy object."

"Having found documents belonging to Deepak in the deceased's pocket, we called his relatives to come and identify the body. But because the face was crushed, they couldn't say for sure if it was him. They told us Deepak wasn't slim, like the deceased was, and had, in fact, a heavy build. The blood group of the deceased also didn't match with Deepak's. We then smelt a rat and started an investigation," he added.

On the run
Superintendent of Pune rural police Suvez Haque said, "During investigation, we found an eyewitness, who claimed that Deepak had last been seen with his two friends in an Innova car. We started scanning the footage of the CCTVs in the area he had been spotted in and the check post and detained Anil and Pramod, who spilled the beans."

"Deepak's plan was to get out from repaying the loan to the bank, take the money from the insurance policy in his name and flee the city for two years. He assumed that in that time things would cool down and he would return with a new name and identity. He is on the run," he added.