Pune: Four men call businessman for land deal, shoot him dead

They called the 26-yr-old on pretext of purchasing plot of land in Pune, and attacked him with a chopper and shot him after an hour of discussion; police suspect revenge is motive for crime

A 26-year-old businessman was stabbed and shot to death by a gang of four in Katraj. The group had called the victim on the pretext of discussing a land deal, and after an hour’s talk, they stabbed and shot him to death. The victim’s cousin then registered a case with the Bharti Vidyapeeth Police.

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The deceased has been identified as Nitin Balashaheb Zambare (26), a resident of Holkarwadi in Katraj. The case was registered by his cousin, Aakash Maruthi Zambare (22), who is an eyewitness in this incident. The accused were identified as Rahul Tupe, Yogesh Holkar and two others. Nitin and his mother are both members of the Congress; in fact, his mother is the sarpanch of Holkarwadi area.

The incident took place at Mahavir Nagar, Katraj, yesterday. Around 12 noon Nitin received a call from Tupe and Holkar, who claimed they wanted to purchase land at Mahavir Nagar. Nitin took along his cousin Aakash to the spot.

Nitin Zambare received 13 injuries to his body, most of which were due to bullets.

Inspector (Crime) Shrikant Shinde, Bharti Vidyapeeth police station, said, “For an hour, discussions were on. Suddenly, an unidentified person in the group took out a chopper and attacked Nitin on his head. Later, all four started attacking Nitin, and as Aakash tried to intervene, they locked him in the car and continued the assault. They then beat up Aakash and left the spot.”

Aakash rushed his cousin to the nearby Bharti Vidyapeeth Hospital, but he was declared dead there. Shinde said Nitin had received 13 injuries to his body, and most of them were due to bullets. “The number of bullets which pierced the body will be clear after the post-mortem report,” Shinde added.

Inspector Machindra Chavan, of Bharti Vidyapeeth police station, believes, prima facie, the cause of the incident goes back a month when the results of the Maharashtra Assembly election results had been declared. Ravi Zambare, a local Shiv Sena party member, had then created a ruckus while celebrating outside the deceased’s house. Due to this, Nitin and Ravi had been involved in a heated exchange replete with abuses.

“We believe Ravi might have hatched a plan to kill Nitin, as he is good friends with both Tupe and Holkar. We have detained some youngsters from the area and will arrest the accused soon,” Chavan told mid-day.

Tupe has a criminal past, with cases of murder, half-murder, etc registered against him in five city-based police stations. “Our seniors had even passed an externment order against him,” Chavan said.

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