Sangli family of 9 was poisoned, godman among two held: Police
PUNE: A week after nine members of a family were found dead in a suspected case of suicide due to harassment by moneylenders in Maharashtra’s Sangli, police on Monday said that the investigation revealed that the deceased were allegedly poisoned to death by a mantrik (godman) and his accomplice.
The two accused, identified as mantrik Abbas Mohammad Bagwan (48) and his driver Dheeraj Chandrakant Survase (30), were arrested from Solapur on Sunday and were booked under Section 302 (murder) of IPC, senior officials from the Miraj rural police station said.
As per the preliminary probe, Abbas allegedly killed the family of nine, including four children, with the help of his accomplice as he did not want to return ₹1 crore he had taken from them under the pretext of locating a “hidden treasure” for them.
The two accused, both residents of Solapur, allegedly killed the family members by mixing poisonous substance in tea he asked them to drink, probably on the night of June 19, the officer added.
On June 20, the nine members of a family of two brothers
— one of them a teacher and the other a veterinarian — were found dead in Sangli’s Mhaisal village. An FIR was registered the same day against 25 people, most of them moneylenders. It did not name the two accused. Two suicide notes were found at both locations, naming the moneylenders whom the two brothers had borrowed from. On Monday, police said they suspect the accused planted the notes.
Sangli SP Dixit Gedam said probe officials got information from friends and relatives of the deceased that the two brothers were in contact with a mantrik to help them locate a “hidden treasure”. “Locals told us the godman used to visit deceased family often during the night. We have added murder section,” he said.