Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
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| Policemen escorting Dharamvir (on right) and Pankaj alias Sonu after they were sentenced in Dhanashri murder case at Nyay Mandir on Friday. |
By Dheeraj Fartode
A trial court handed down capital punishment to a college dropout who was held guilty of murdering his girl friend. The second accused in the case who helped dispose of the body got lifer. The wheels of justice moved quite fast as the gory incident came to light on independence day last year and within a year the trial concluded and accused persons were awarded the sentences.Main accused in the case is Dharamvir Shriram Chavan (24), a resident of Palloti Nagar. He was dating Dhanashri Ramteke, a resident of Indrayani Nagar, Gittikhadan and a B Com second year student of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar College. Dhanashri however was outgoing and hence had large friend circle while Dharamvir was obsessed with the girl. He used to suspect Dhanashri was having affair with other boys and that was the bone of contention between the couple.
A few days before the incident Dharamvir had spotted Dhanashri talking to couple of boys in front of Poonam Chamber and that time the accused had thrashed his girl friend in full public view. Dharamvir’s suspicion and fights between the two were now everyday affair. One fine day Dharamvir hatched a conspiracy to teach Dhanashri a lesson.
On night of August 14, Dharamvir called Dhanashri and the two agreed to meet. Dharamvir sent his friend and co-accused Pankaj alias Sonu alias Cherry Sadashiv Rautkar (22), a resident of Palloti Nagar, to bring Dhanashri at latter’s room. Pankaj was employed as driver while Dharamvir was pursuing some diploma course. On the night, Dharamvir was drunk and he had a fight with Dhanashri over the same matter. In a fit of anger he strangulated Dhanashri.
Later in a cold blooded manner he with help of Sonu transported the body on Dhanashri’s two wheeler and threw the body by road side in Utthan Nagar, Gorewada Road. The accused duo later stole a truck tyre from Awasthi Nagar and came back to place where they had dumped her body. The accused kept the body on the tyre and set it ablaze after pouring petrol on it. Dhanashri’s scooter was abandoned by Dharamvir in Mominpura.
The main accused of the horrendous Dhanashri murder case, who set her body ablaze after strangulating her, was pronounced capital punished while his friend who helped him was awarded life imprisonment. Additional Sessions Judge K L Vyas, on Thursday, held the accused guilty and considering this to be the rarest of rare Police Inspector Chakshupal Bahadure investigated the case and filed a charge sheet in the court. The court examined 31 witnesses and Additional Sessions Judge K L Vyas on Thursday itself had pronounced the two guilty while quantum of punishment was announced on Friday.
Adv Deepak Kolhe and Adv Satish Soni represented the State while Adv Chandrashekhar Jaltare appeared for the accused.
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