Mumbai policewoman missing since 2016 was butchered: Suspect's confession

New information has come forward in the case of missing policewoman Ashwini Bidre-Gore who has been termed missing since April 11, 2016.

One of the four men arrested in connection with the case, Mahesh Falnikar has said that she was killed by senior inspector Abhay Kurundkar, who is the prime accused.

According to the confession, the senior inspector used a power cutter to butcher Ashwini’s body, store the parts in a refrigerator at his Bhayander flat, and dump them over two days into Vasai creek.

The two others involved in the case are Kurundkar’s driver Kundan Bhandari and Raju Patil, who is the nephew of BJP leader and former cabinet minister Eknath Khadse.

According to the sources, Kurundkar and Ashwini were in an extramarital relationship from 2011 with both being married and having children.

While Ashwini got estranged with her husband after coming clean on the relationship, Kurundkar had evidently kept the relationship under wraps. Later when Ashwini began insisting to reveal the relationship, Kurundkar threatened to harm her.

With the confession, the police have added the charges of murder and causing the disappearance of evidence to the kidnapping case.

On Friday, crime branch and forensics teams reached Kurundkar’s flat in Mukund Niwas, Bhayander. They were accompanied by Falnikar and Bhandari. The refrigerator which had Ashwini’s head and limbs were seized and also the trunk with her torso.

Bhandari and Falnikar were sent to police custody till March 5 and 9, respectively.

Kurundkar’s call data record led the police to the three others involved in the case. Following this, all the four were found to be at the same place, based on cell phone tower location, on April 12, 2016, a day after Ashwini’s alleged murder.

Kurundkar and his aides were together when the trunk with the torso was dumped around midnight and the mobile tower locations showed them at the same location for 45 minutes.