Three men arrested for killing own friend in Sangli

As informed by the police, the three accused kidnapped the victim, killed him, cremated his body and disposed the ashes and bones in a lake nearby.

Sangli: The Ashta police on Sunday arrested three people for killing their own friend in a fit of rage after a petty scuffle in the Valwa taluka in Sangli. As informed by the police, the three accused kidnapped the victim, killed him, cremated his body and disposed the ashes and bones in a lake nearby. The incident came to light after the victim's friends lodged a missing complaint.

The victim, identified as Omkar Rakte, had gotten into a fight with the accused named Sammed Sawalwade (26) over a petty issue some time in February. Enraged by the fight, the accused hatched a plan with two others identified as Bharat Katkar (36) and Rakesh Halunde (23) to kill the victim. The three then executed the plan together.

On February 27, the accused kidnapped Omkar from Dange College at around 9 am. When he did not get back home for several days, his friend lodged a missing complaint at the Ashta Police station. A team of officials, along with the local Crime Investigation Branch, started probing the case. During the investigation, an anonymous source informed them that Omkar's friend named Sammed Sawalwade has kidnapped him.

The police then detained Sammed, followed by Bharat and Rakesh for interrogation, during which they confessed to the crime and spilled out the details. Omkarfter kidnapping him, the accused took Omkar in an area near Lokmanya School on the Ashta Islampur road and brutally beat him up.

They then strangled severely injured Omkar to death with a muffler. To hide the evidence, the burnt his body in a crematorium and threw his ashes and bones in the Krishna river in Valwa taluka, the accused informed. The police registered a case against the three and arrested them. With the further investigation underway, the police are trying to find Omkar's bones dumped in the Krishna river.