IMEI no. nailed Pooja’s killer

After murdering 16-year-old SSC student Pooja Vilas Jadhav for turning down his advances, Akash Natha Koli (19) allegedly used her mobile handset to make calls and the police tracked him down using the IMEI number of the handset.

Koli, a native of Satara, presently staying at Kokate lane in Pashan, was remanded in police custody till September 21 by judicial magistrate (first class) KM Pingale on Thursday.

Inspector (crime) Subhash Nikam, who is investigating the case, said, “Koli hails from Satara and has studied till standard VIII. He works as a janitor with a Pashan-based students’ hostel. On last Friday, he approached Pooja while she was returning home from her class and proposed to her. When Pooja turned down the proposal, he assaulted her. Then, fearing that she could complain to his brother and he would beat him up, he gagged her. As she lay still, he inspected her bag. He found a compass in her bag and stabbed her inflicting wounds on her body. Then he took her mobile, broke her sim card and inserted his sim card.”

Nikam said the post-mortem report mentioned that she died because of asphyxia due to throttling.