Pune RTI activist found murdered

  • | Wednesday | 13th February, 2019

The police on Tuesday had invoked murder charges against unidentified persons.“We think as many as seven builders, who are into illegal construction activities, conspired and got Vinayak kidnapped. Besides his father and brother, he is survived by wife Urmila, mother Ashabai, a sister and sister-in-law. PUNE: Vinayak Sirsat, a small builder from Warje who was reported missing on January 30, was found murdered on Monday night.His decomposing body was recovered from the bushes in the valley at Mutha village off Pirangut-Lavasa road. Many illegal buildings were demolished by the PMRDA and the other authorities,” Kishor said.Sirsat was an active member of the Republican Party of India (A). They suspect that three men, who knew Sirsat, killed him over some disputes.

PUNE: Vinayak Sirsat, a small builder from Warje who was reported missing on January 30, was found murdered on Monday night.His decomposing body was recovered from the bushes in the valley at Mutha village off Pirangut-Lavasa road. The postmortem was conducted at the Sassoon General Hospital on Tuesday and a report is awaited.Vinayak SirsatThe murdered man had filed several applications under the Right to Information ( RTI ) Act in the name of his father Sudhakar Kondiba Sirsat seeking information about illegal constructions in the fringe areas of the city.On Tuesday evening, the Pune police detained two men, including Sirsat’s close friend, at Mehboobnagar in Telangana for allegedly murdering him.The police said they were interrogating both men to establish the reason for the murder. They suspect that three men, who knew Sirsat, killed him over some disputes. “Sirsat was murdered with sharp weapons. There were injuries on his neck,” the police added.Sirsat, 32, went missing from Nipane Vasti near Narhe where his construction site is located almost a fortnight ago.His family members said the Bharati Vidyapeeth police had ignored the missing person’s complaint lodged by his father on January 30 despite repeated requests. This, they said, resulted in Sirsat’s death.A formal complaint of kidnapping was registered on February 5. The police on Tuesday had invoked murder charges against unidentified persons.“We think as many as seven builders, who are into illegal construction activities, conspired and got Vinayak kidnapped. Later, they got him killed,” his brother, Kishor, and father, Sudhakar, told TOI on Tuesday.“My brother had filed several RTI applications in my father’s name with various government agencies to track illegal constructions in Narhe, Bhugaon, Ambegaon, Shivane, Uttamnagar, Kondhwe-Dhavade and other suburban areas,” Kishor told TOI.After obtaining information about these illegal constructions, he would approach PMRDA and other regulatory authorities, he added. “Vinayak followed up his queries with the authorities. Many illegal buildings were demolished by the PMRDA and the other authorities,” Kishor said.Sirsat was an active member of the Republican Party of India (A). Besides his father and brother, he is survived by wife Urmila, mother Ashabai, a sister and sister-in-law. The family lives at Dangat Estate in Warje.On January 30, Sirsat left home at 11am saying that he was going to the construction site at Narhe. “He told our mother that he would be home for lunch. We thought he was busy when he did not come for lunch. When we tried to contact him later, his cellphone was switched off. We began a search and found his Pajero. It was not locked and stood unattended at Nipane Vasti,” he said.That evening, the brother said, they received a call from his cellphone and an unidentified man spoke to their father. “The caller demanded a ransom of Rs 15 lakh against his release and then disconnected the phone. It remained switched off thereafter,” he said.Kishor alleged that when they told the police that his brother had been kidnapped for ransom, they registered a missing person’s case.Kishor said that many builders had threatened Sirsat in the past after he had sought details of their construction activities under RTI. “The police neglected to assess the urgency in his case,” he claimed.

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