3 get life term for robbing, murdering 22-year-old engineering student in 2016 in Shahad

THANE: The Kalyan sessions court on Wednesday sentenced three of the four accused arrested in the 2016 Shahad robbery-gangrape-murder case to life imprisonment for murdering a 22-year-old engineering student in her home in Shahad near Kalyan. The fourth accused is a 16-year-old boy and is being handled by the Juvenile Justice Board.

However, the court acquitted the three accused Nitin Waghe, Nitish Bhoir and Ravindra Waghe, from the charge of gangrape for want of cogent evidence.

Assistant public prosecutor, Rachana Bhoir said, “They have been convicted based on the recovery. The accused were found with a gold chain, mobile phone and laptop of the deceased girl. The case was tough because there were no eyewitnesses, but we had strong circumstantial evidence. Only the minor accused was involved in rape as his DNA sample matched; the three accused’s DNA samples were negative.”

The incident occurred in April 2016, the 22-year-old had just completed her engineering degree and was staying with her brother and sister-in-law in Shadad. On the day of the incident, the victim’s brother and his wife were in their bedroom, while she was asleep in the hall. The four accused, including the 16-year-old, climbed up the gas pipeline and entered the flat which had no grilles in the window. After entering, they locked the bedroom door from outside and robbed the woman’s gold chain, laptop, and mobile phone. After robbing her, they first tied her mouth with a cloth and killed her and then raped her, said police officials.

Around the same time, the convicts had committed two more robberies, another murder and an attempt to murder in the Kalyan- Shahad belt. The other two cases are still pending trial.

Five days after the incident, Thane crime branch officials nabbed all four accused from the Ambivli area where they were hiding. The minor accused was sent to a juvenile home from where he fled and later was arrested again in another theft case in Pune after two years. The other accused were in judicial custody.

The case was handled by APP Rachana Bhoir in Kalyan court, ASI Nitin Sawant, PI Devidas Ghevare, PI Ashok Bhandare, head constable Ganesh Waghmode, Jaykar Jadhav Bhagwan Thate, and PSI Baban Avti.

An officer said, “There are 200 police personnel working to solve the case, but this team worked on a long trail of thefts in the area and by tracing stolen mobile phones they reached the accused’s relatives. They arrested the minor accused first and got the laptop of the girl in his house after which the case was shut.”

After the incident and the loss of their child, the victim’s family shifted from the Kalyan area and are still recovering from the loss, said the officer.

The family thanked the police for their efforts and said, “We had faith in the police department and the judiciary.”