NAGPUR: The Kamble double-murder case is a grim reality of crime jolting the life of a crime reporter in a cruel turn of fate.
The murder of reporter Ravikant Kamble’s mother Usha and his one-and-half year old daughter Rashi on February 17, 2018, perhaps had more twists and turn than any edge-of-your-seat suspense thriller until the sessions judge convicted prime accused Ganesh Shahu, his wife Gudiya and brother Ankit and senetnced them to life imprisonment while their juvenile kin was sent behind the bars for three years for destroying evidence.
It took more than five years for the curtains to fall on the sordid saga.
The tragedy had struck Kamble while he was expressing his condolence to senior inspector Rajendra Nikam and his family after the latter lost his teenage daughter in an accident.
Caught up in office work, Kamble’s wife Rupali, a cop with Nagpur police, alerted him around midnight about her mother-in-law Usha and daughter Rashi not returning home since 5.30pm.
Kamble immediately alerted officers like senior inspectors Bharat Kshirsagar and Pradeep Atulkar. IG Nilesh Bharne, then DCP crime, who is now posted in Uttarakhand, too had reached Kamble’s residence at Pawansutra Nagar.
Kamble said cops first searched every corner of his residence while his father Sewakdas rushed to Hudkeshwar police station at 4am to lodge a missing complaint.
“Mother’s last call location as per the mobile phone tower was near the shop of the Shahus, which was barely fee metre from our house. Ganesh misled the cops right from the beginning. He said my mother had gone to meet a jeweller but the latter denied this,” said Kamble.
Family friend and counsel Sameer Sonwane said that the murder had taken place between 5.30pm and 6pm while the Shahus had disposed of the bodies between 8.30pm and 9pm. “Kamble’s wife was not feeling well and she had gone to sleep with their daughter. His father too had fallen asleep. They got up late in the evening and alerted Kamble around midnight. Had the family started searching earlier, they could have caught Shahu with the bodies inside his house,” said Sonwane who along with a team conducted the trial along with special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
There were red stains in the car. “Shahus quickly claimed these were due to crushed tomatoes on the seat as the vehicles was used for bringing veggies. A forensic expert confirmed that the stains were human blood,” said Kamble.
“After woman inspector Mangala Mokashe resorted to psychological tactics Gudiya broke down and confessed to having played a role in the murders,” the crime reporter said.
There were controversies from the first few days itself when Kambles objected to former CP K Venkatesham appointing ACP Kishor Supare as the investigation officer in the crime in which Atrocities Act was invoked. Supare, now retired, had been booked under the Act in the past. Kambles had claimed Supare was not cooperating with them.
Venkatesham shifted the probe to the now retired DySp Rajratna Bansod. Bansod and Supare, despite being batchmates, had an ugly showdown over the probe.
The Shahus had approached the Supreme Court for transferring the probe outside Maharashtra citing political and media pressure but the plea was rejected. Ankit had approached the high court for bail five times while Gudiya too made three attempts, but to no avail. Gudiya even delivered her first child in jail and later tried to end life in the courtroom.
Kamble said a doctor had deposed about hearing a woman crying for help and urging not to harm a child from the first floor of Shahu’s residence. However, the doctor could see only Gudiya near the door. “It was a case of circumstantial evidence. The prosecution had to connect dots to prove what was obvious. My faith in the system paid off,” said Kamble. He had turned own offer for a government job as compensation to pursue the case and continued to work for an English portal. “Nothing can fill the void the crime has created in my life,” he said.
The murder of reporter Ravikant Kamble’s mother Usha and his one-and-half year old daughter Rashi on February 17, 2018, perhaps had more twists and turn than any edge-of-your-seat suspense thriller until the sessions judge convicted prime accused Ganesh Shahu, his wife Gudiya and brother Ankit and senetnced them to life imprisonment while their juvenile kin was sent behind the bars for three years for destroying evidence.
It took more than five years for the curtains to fall on the sordid saga.
The tragedy had struck Kamble while he was expressing his condolence to senior inspector Rajendra Nikam and his family after the latter lost his teenage daughter in an accident.
Caught up in office work, Kamble’s wife Rupali, a cop with Nagpur police, alerted him around midnight about her mother-in-law Usha and daughter Rashi not returning home since 5.30pm.
Kamble immediately alerted officers like senior inspectors Bharat Kshirsagar and Pradeep Atulkar. IG Nilesh Bharne, then DCP crime, who is now posted in Uttarakhand, too had reached Kamble’s residence at Pawansutra Nagar.
Kamble said cops first searched every corner of his residence while his father Sewakdas rushed to Hudkeshwar police station at 4am to lodge a missing complaint.
“Mother’s last call location as per the mobile phone tower was near the shop of the Shahus, which was barely fee metre from our house. Ganesh misled the cops right from the beginning. He said my mother had gone to meet a jeweller but the latter denied this,” said Kamble.
Family friend and counsel Sameer Sonwane said that the murder had taken place between 5.30pm and 6pm while the Shahus had disposed of the bodies between 8.30pm and 9pm. “Kamble’s wife was not feeling well and she had gone to sleep with their daughter. His father too had fallen asleep. They got up late in the evening and alerted Kamble around midnight. Had the family started searching earlier, they could have caught Shahu with the bodies inside his house,” said Sonwane who along with a team conducted the trial along with special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
There were red stains in the car. “Shahus quickly claimed these were due to crushed tomatoes on the seat as the vehicles was used for bringing veggies. A forensic expert confirmed that the stains were human blood,” said Kamble.
“After woman inspector Mangala Mokashe resorted to psychological tactics Gudiya broke down and confessed to having played a role in the murders,” the crime reporter said.
There were controversies from the first few days itself when Kambles objected to former CP K Venkatesham appointing ACP Kishor Supare as the investigation officer in the crime in which Atrocities Act was invoked. Supare, now retired, had been booked under the Act in the past. Kambles had claimed Supare was not cooperating with them.
Venkatesham shifted the probe to the now retired DySp Rajratna Bansod. Bansod and Supare, despite being batchmates, had an ugly showdown over the probe.
The Shahus had approached the Supreme Court for transferring the probe outside Maharashtra citing political and media pressure but the plea was rejected. Ankit had approached the high court for bail five times while Gudiya too made three attempts, but to no avail. Gudiya even delivered her first child in jail and later tried to end life in the courtroom.
Kamble said a doctor had deposed about hearing a woman crying for help and urging not to harm a child from the first floor of Shahu’s residence. However, the doctor could see only Gudiya near the door. “It was a case of circumstantial evidence. The prosecution had to connect dots to prove what was obvious. My faith in the system paid off,” said Kamble. He had turned own offer for a government job as compensation to pursue the case and continued to work for an English portal. “Nothing can fill the void the crime has created in my life,” he said.
