PUNE: A former Army havildar shot dead his wife (36) near the makeshift premises of the Shirur court in the irrigation department office on Tuesday morning, while his mother-in-law suffered bullet injuries after he fired from his licensed revolver.
The Ranjangaon police intercepted the ex-serviceman, Deepak Dhavale (44), and his elder brother, Sandip (47), both from Ambernath in Thane district, during a nakabandi operation on the Pune-Ahmednagar highway. Sandip had accompanied Dhavale to the Shirur court, about 70km from Pune, the police said.
Dhavale's wife, Manjula Dhavale alias Manjula Zambre, died on the spot.
Additional superintendent of Pune rural police Milind Mohite told TOI, "His mother-in-law, Tulsabai Zambre (56) of Vadegavan village in Parner taluka in Ahmednagar district, is undergoing treatment in a private hospital and is out of danger."
He said Dhavale and his wife, Manjula, had two daughters (10 and 14 years old). They had domestic issues. Manjula was staying with her parents for the past few months, along with their daughters.
Mohite said Manjula had filed a case for alimony against Dhavale in the Shirur court and its hearing was on Tuesday. "Currently, some work is going on at the court building. So, the court has been temporarily shifted to the irrigation department's premises in Shirur," he said.
The additional superintendent of police said Dhavale and Sandip had come to Shirur from Ambernath in an autorickshaw. The siblings and Manjula, along with her mother and two daughters, were waiting on the premises of the irrigation department office, near the building where the court's proceedings were going on.
"After some heated arguments with his wife, Dhavale suddenly took out his pistol and fired four rounds at his wife and mother-in-law," Mohite said.
People at the irrigation department office and the court ran helter-skelter after hearing the gunshots. "Little later, a few of them started pelting stones at Dhavale despite the latter carrying a firearm," Mohite said.
Dhavale fired one round in the air and ran towards the autorickshaw, in which Sandip was waiting. "The duo then fled towards Pune. Some people started chasing them on two-wheelers. We immediately alerted the Ranjangaon police," Mohite said.
Inspector Balwant Mandge of the Ranjangaon police said the nakabandi operation was launched immediately after getting the alert from Shirur. He blocked the Pune-Ahmednagar highway at Phalke Mala crossing, about 20km from Shirur. "I used my police vehicle and a trailer to block the highway," Mandge said.
He said he and his team noticed the autorickshaw and a motorcyclist chasing it around 11am. "As the traffic was halted, the driver had to slow down the autorickshaw. The biker alerted us, following which we forcibly stopped the autorickshaw. The suspects tried to run away by pushing the police team. But we overpowered them and took them into custody. We found the pistol kept in the seat of the vehicle. The duo have been handed over to the Shirur police," Mandge said.
Inspector Sureshkumar Raut of the Shirur police said Dhavale had applied for the gun licence while he was in the service to take up a job of a private security guard after retirement. "Being an ex-serviceman, he got the licence. Dhavale worked at a private security agency for about a year. Currently, he is jobless," Raut said.
Dhavale's wife daughter of his maternal uncle
Raut said Dhavale's wife, Manjula, was the daughter of the suspect's maternal uncle. "He revealed during the questioning that he was frustrated because his wife and daughters were not staying with him. He claimed that he wanted to use the money he got after retirement for his daughters' education. He was upset as his wife had filed the alimony case," Raut said.
