DNA tests of the skeletal remains of five out of the six deceased exhumed from the farms of Dr Santosh Pol have matched with that of their kin, aiding the police case against Pol and nurse Jyoti Mandre, his accomplice
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DNA tests of the skeletal remains of five out of the six deceased exhumed from the farms of Dr Santosh Pol have matched with that of their kin, aiding the police case against Pol and nurse Jyoti Mandre, his accomplice.
The accused duo of Dr Santosh Pol and nurse Jyoti Mandre are in custody for allegedly killing six women and burying them in his farm; the Wai police found remains of all. File pics
Poland Mandre have been accused of killing six women over a span of 13 years for their gold ornaments and then burying the bodies at Pol’s farm.
It’s a match!
The test reports from the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Pune, confirmed the matches with the DNA samples collected from the remains of Mangala Jedhe (killed on June 16, 2016), Nathamal Bhandari (December 7, 2015), Jagabai Pol (August 13, 2010), Vanita Gaikwad (August 2006) and Surekha Chikane (May 20, 2003). Only a match for orphan Salma Shaikh (January 17, 2016), who worked as a staff nurse in a local rural hospital, could not be made.
A senior police officer from Wai said, “In Salma’s case, KEM’s forensic surgeons did superimposition of her face with the skull; it matched. The same was done for the other five as well; all matched.”
When asked about the cause of death given by the KEM team, the officer added, “The opinion is reserved, but in one case, they found a head injury. We are awaiting the final post-mortem report.”
Special inspector general of police (Kolhapur Range) confirmed the development. “The police have already filed chargesheets in three out of the six cases, and by this month-end, the remaining will be filed,” he said.
Patil even confirmed hiring special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam to nail the accused.
mid-day had first reported about Nikam being on the case on August 26 (‘Satara mass killings: Will it be Ujjwal Nikam vs Dr Death?’)
A pile of evidence
Senior inspector Padmakar Dhanvat, local crime branch (Satara) told mid-day, “We have submitted the first chargesheet in the case of Jedhe, the anganwadi teacher who had gone missing and later her remains were exhumed from Pol’s farm. We have both scientific and forensic evidence to establish the brutal killings.”
When asked if the forensic scientists could not get any clue in the chemical analysis about the nature of injection that was administered to the deceased, Dhanvat replied in the negative and said, “As the bodies were either highly decomposed or mere bones, the forensic scientists could not make any headway in that direction.”
However, the local police have come across sufficient evidence to establish that Pol had robbed the lethal injections from Ghotavadekar hospital in Wai, where he used to work.
When asked if a case of theft has also been registered against Pol for this, the officer said that could only be done if the hospital lodged a complaint, which it hasn’t as yet.
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