2 held for abducting Pune schoolboy

The crime branch arrested two youths for allegedly abducting a 13-year-old schoolboy, Ganesh Ranjane, from Shivaji Road on Thursday morning, and dumping his body after strangulating him at a secluded spot near Khed Shivapur, around 20 km away from Pune.

The kidnappers strangulated Ganesh and dumped an unconscious Ganesh thinking him to be dead. Ganesh managed to return home with the help of two men who took him to the police.

A complaint in this regard has been lodged by the boy’s father, Anna Baban Ranjane (38) of Tanajinagar, Dhankavdi, with the Khadak police.

The arrested suspects have been identified as Tejas Arun Jagade (19) of Sadashiv Peth and Sachin Krushna Mungurdekar (19) of Karvenagar.

The police said, “The suspects were neighbours to the Ranjanes when they were staying in Sadashiv Peth. Jagade and Ranjane had had a tiff during Ganesh festival. At that time, Ranjane had allegedly abused Jagade. The crime was committed to take revenge.”

The police said Ganesh was on his way to tuition class when Jagade told him that he would drop him to his class on Shivaji Road. After the class got over at around 10 am, and he left for school. While he was walking, Jagade called him and said he would drop him to school on his motorcycle. Ganesh went with Jagade, as he knew him. The police said, “On the way Jagade picked up Mungurdekar. When Ganesh asked them where they were going, the suspects asked him to shut up.”

“After crossing Khed-Shivapur, the suspects took Ganesh towards Garude village. Jagade stopped the motorcycle near a ghat and  took the boy’s cellphone and started strangulating him with a handkerchief,” the police said. Later, the suspects called the boy’s father on his cellphone and demanded Rs60,000 as ransom.
Taking Ganesh for dead, the duo dumped the boy near the ghat.

Ganesh regained consciousness after an hour. With the help of two local residents, he went to the Shindewadi police chowky and called up his father.

Acting on a tip-off, a police team led by Duttatray Temgire laid a trap at Warje Chowk on Saturday morning and arrested the suspects.