Pimpri Chinchwad Police have booked Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Sunil Shelke, his brother Sudhakar Shelke, and 5 others for the murder of businessman and activist Kishore Aware (48) in Talegaon Dabhade, Pune. Sunil Shelke is the MLA from Maval constituency in Maharashtra.
Aware was a resident of Swapna Nagari and was shot by unknown assailants on Friday at around 1:40 pm. He founded Janseva Vikas Samiti and was well-known for being actively involved in politics and social service in Maval taluka. Kishore Aware had been voicing fears about potential threats to his life for the previous six months.
Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code, and the Indian Arms Act have been invoked by the police to file charges against the NCP leader, his brother, Shyam Nigadkar, Sandip Garad, and three others. All of them are residents of Talegaon Dabhade. According to the FIR, Shyam Nigadkar and his associates killed the victim by firing shots at him and attacking him with weapons.
The action was taken based on the complaint by the deceased’s 69-year-old mother Sulochana Gangaram Aware who is also the former president of Talegaon Dabhade Nagar Parishad.
She revealed that her son had repeatedly informed her about the threats that he had received from the NCP lawmaker, his brother, and Sandeep Garade for the last six months. He and his followers frequently engaged in altercations with the NCP leader and his supporters.
“Tensions between Kishore and the Shelke brothers escalated due to political differences and Kishore’s association with his friend Santosh Shelke, who had filed a non-cognizable complaint against Sunil Shelke. Kishore had openly opposed Sunil Shelke’s actions and regularly protested against the alleged wrongdoings committed by Sunil and his supporters, which further fueled their animosity towards him,” she disclosed.
Sulochana Aware also mentioned in the FIR that her son was helping Santosh Shelke, an alleged political rival of the Shelke brothers. He was also politically active through his organisation. She asserted that because of the threat he embodied to Sunil and Sudhakar Shelke’s political hegemony, they had conspired to kill him.
Kishore Aware went to the Talegaon Dabhade Municipal Council on Friday at 12:30 p.m. Around 1.40 pm, while he was leaving from there, Shyam Nigadkar and three unknown perpetrators attacked him. He was shot with a pistol and then assaulted with a chopper knife several times.
Sulochana Gangaram Aware was alerted about the horrific occurrence by her son’s friend Sagar Sambhaji Dabhade when she was at home.
Four teams of the Crime Branch have been established, per Assistant Commissioner of Police Padmakar Ghanwat, to investigate the murder. A CCTV camera near the site of the incident recorded a video that provided hints to police about the culprits.
Top authorities including Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissioner Vinaykumar Chaube, Joint Commissioner Sanjay Shinde, Additional Commissioner Vasant Pardeshi, Deputy Commissioner (Crime) Swapna Gore, and Deputy Commissioner (Zone 2) Kakasaheb Dole went to the crime scene for inquiry. The case is currently under investigation.
