According to the police, the couple’s marriage was in trouble due to Nimse’s alleged extramarital relationship. According to the police, the couple’s marriage was in trouble due to Nimse’s alleged extramarital relationship. Five days after the body of Shiv Sena leader Shailesh Nimse (43) was found in a forest in Ganeshpuri in Thane Rural District, the police have arrested his wife and a relative for allegedly plotting and carrying out his murder. The partially burnt body of Nimse, the Shiv Sena deputy pramukh for Shahapur taluka, was discovered by locals in Devchola village in Ganeshpuri, Bhiwandi tehsil, on April 21. His wife Vaishali, had filed a complaint with the police in Shahapur, claiming, he had left home in his car and had not returned. After finding his body, the police initially filed a case of murder and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code against unidentified persons. While Vaishali had claimed to the police that her husband’s murder was politically motivated, an investigation revealed that the motive was personal. According to the police, the couple’s marriage was in trouble due to Nimse’s alleged extramarital relationship. Police said Vaishali had found out about Nimse’s affair a month ago. “He would send her pictures he had taken with the other woman. The wife has claimed that the deceased was extremely abusive towards her,” said Prashant Kadam, Additional Superintendent of Police, Thane Rural. Police said that Nimse had been threatening to file divorce and on April 19, forced Vaishali to sign a bunch of papers. “The wife thought by signing the documents, the divorce process was complete,” added Kadam. Vaishali, the police said, feared that the divorce would leave her children without home. Nimse had been planning to file the documents in a family court the next day. In a state of panic, Vaishali allegedly offered Rs 1.5 lakh to Pramod Lute (32), a close relative, to kill her husband. According to the police, at 1 pm on April 20, Lute and three other men entered Nimse’s home and overpowered him. “Two of the men gagged and strangled him, while another sat on his chest and prevented him from fighting back,” said a police official. After ensuring that Nimse was dead, the police said, the men put his body in the trunk of his car and drove to an isolated forested area of Ganeshpuri in Bhiwandi and burned his body there. Police first arrested Lute on Tuesday after analysing CCTV camera footage near Nimse’s home. Police claimed that Lute confessed to having been paid by Vaishali for the crime. Vaishali was also taken into custody on Tuesday. Police is on the lookout for three of Lute’s accomplices. For all the latest Mumbai News, download Indian Express App

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