Local police in Sordi village fail to register FIR or share post-mortem report with wife of man who was found dead outside his employers' house four months ago
Four months after her husband was mysteriously found dead outside his employers' house, Sordi village's Nanda Kale, 25, is yet to receive any answers from the police. The local Jat police are yet to file an FIR or even give the widow a copy of her husband's post-mortem (PM) report.
The deceased, Dattatray Kale, was allegedly having an affair with one of the women in the family that employed him
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Nanda and her lawyer, Rajeshwar Panchal, have taken their fight for justice to the Bombay High Court, where they filed a criminal writ petition seeking action against the cops for allegedly working hand-in-glove with the culprits to cover up what happened to the deceased. The case is likely to be heard in the coming week.
Dattatray Kale
The deceased, Dattatray, 35, was a farm labourer at the house of the Gaikwad family in Sordi village in Sangli district. "On June 21, he left the house at 5 pm for some work but never returned. The next morning, around 6 am, the family received a phone call informing them that Dattatray was lying behind Gaikwad's house. Their suspicions were raised when they found his mobile phone, slipper and underwear missing," said Advocate Panchal. Dattatray is survived by his parents, his wife Nanda and their two daughters, aged two and three.
Secret affair?
Nanda has her suspicions about what happened to her husband. According to Panchal, Dattatray was having a clandestine affair with one of the women in the Gaikwad family, and the male members found out about this.
Nanda alleged that just days before Dattatray's death, one of the family members, Dhanashri Gaikwad, had even thrashed her and threatened to kill her and her husband. In her petition, the widow has named five members of the Gaikwad family – four women, one man – as suspects for the alleged murder of her husband.
Panchal said, "Nanda has every reason to believe that her husband was murdered by them, as the circumstances raise serious suspicion on the Gaikwads."
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Local police lied
Not only did the cops fail to do a spot panchnama of the body and crime scene, but they also refused to file an FIR or give a copy of the autopsy report to Nanda despite them making four visits to the Jat police station between June 23 and July 31.
The police claimed that they were still waiting for the PM report. But when Nanda visited the Jat rural hospital, Dr Igonda Kumbhar informed them that the PM report had already been submitted to the police.
The family approached the office of the Superintendent of Police, and received assurances from the then Additional SP, as well, but it was all to no avail.
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Demanding that the investigation be transferred to the state CID, Advocate Panchal stated in the petition: "The actions of the police are highly suspicious... A police officer cannot avoid his duty of registering offence if cognisable offence is disclosed. Action must be taken against erring officers."
Police speak
Vishwas Nangre Patil, Inspector General of Police (Kolhapur), said that the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) informed him that the PM report did not reveal any injuries and the chemical analysis report was silent about any poisoning. "I have already directed the SDPO to personally re-open the case and conduct a proper investigation. We will go into the depth of the case to ascertain exactly what happened," said IGP Patil.
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