Pune family rivalry: Two held for killing 18-year-old; other accused include deceased's grandfather

Pune, Sep 7 (PTI) Two alleged shooters in the "revenge" murder of the teen son of an accused couple in last year's killing of NCP leader Vanraj Andekar have been arrested, a Pune police official said on Sunday.

Ayush Komkar (18) was gunned down in Nana Peth area here in the evening of September 5, with a Samarth police station official saying the hit was allegedly masterminded by Vanraj Andekar's father and the deceased's grandfather Bandu Andekar and other kin. Vanraj Andekar was killed on September 1 last year in the same area.

"Ayush is Andekar's maternal nephew. Ayush's mother Sanjivani and father Ganesh Komkar are accused in the killing of Vanraj Andekar. Sanjivani is Vanraj Andekar's sister and last year's murder was the fallout of a family dispute regarding a property. Vanraj Adekar's family got Ayush murdered to extract revenge," the official said.

Following Ayush's killing, police had booked Bandu Andekar (Vanraj's father and Ayush's grandfather), Krushna Andekar, Shivan Andekar, Tushar Wadekar, Swaraj Wadekar, Abhishek Andekar, Vridavani Andekar, Shivraj Andekar, Laxmi Andekar as well as Aman Pathan and Yash Siddheshwar, who carried out the shooting, he said.

They were charged with murder and other offences under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Arms Act, the official added.

"Pathan and Siddheshwar have been arrested in the case. They have been remanded in police custody till September 12," Samarth police station senior inspector Umesh Gitte said.

Incidentally, last week, police had registered a case against eight persons, including members of the Andekar gang, and arrested two men on suspicion of supplying firearms to them.

In this regard, Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said the force had intelligence inputs that the Andekar gang was plotting a revenge killing.

"The Crime Branch had arrested eight people earlier. However, there was no concrete input that a person (Bandu Andekar) would target his own grandson. We have arrested some accused in the present case and a search is on for others," Kumar said. PTI SPK BNM