- Manthan Vaidya was arrested for orchestrating a 23-year-old revenge murder case
- Victim Sanjay Kadu-Deshmukh was found stabbed near Katraj tunnel on July 11
- Manthan and Saurabh Pardeshi confessed to the murder with two accomplices
In a chilling tale of revenge spanning more than two decades, the Pune rural police have arrested a 24-year-old for orchestrating the murder of the man allegedly responsible for killing his father 23 years ago when he was just six months old.
The victim, Sanjay Baburao Kadu-Deshmukh (40), was found brutally murdered near the old Katraj tunnel in Pune district's Bhor tehsil on July 11.
Police said he suffered multiple injuries from a sharp weapon, prompting Rajgad Police to register a murder case.
According to the Pune Rural Police's Local Crime Branch (LCB), investigators used technical evidence to identify Manthan Vaidya (24) and Saurabh Pardeshi as key suspects.
"Both were detained on July 14. During questioning, they confessed to killing Kadu-Deshmukh with the help of two accomplices, identified as Mizan Shaikh and Sandip Kori," senior police inspector Pramod Kshirsagar said on Monday.
Police said the motive traces back to 2003, when Kadu-Deshmukh allegedly murdered Manthan's father, Dinesh Vaidya, following a petty dispute. At the time, Manthan was just six months old.
Manthan had allegedly been nursing a grudge over his father's murder for years and conspired with the other accused to eliminate Kadu-Deshmukh, said assistant police inspector Chetan Machale.
He said Kadu-Deshmukh was out on bail in another criminal case when he was killed.
"We have registered an offence against Manthan and the other accused under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Further investigation is underway," he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
