Pune: A dispute over a mobile messaging app status led to the murder of a 25-year-old man in Kharadi late on Thursday night.The Kharadi police on Friday arrested the victim’s 23-year-old friend, who had fled the scene after the incident.The police identified the deceased as Akash Tarale, a resident of Lohegaon. The accused, Vijay Waghmare of Kharadi, was booked under section 103 (murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Assistant inspector Ravindra Godse of the Kharadi police said Tarale and Waghmare were friends. In 2023, Waghmare had a quarrel with a mutual friend, who later filed a complaint against him at the Chandannagar police station. “Since then, Tarale had been posting photographs and videos of the complainant as his status on a mobile messaging app,” Godse said.On Thursday night, while Tarale and another friend were in Kharadi, Waghmare arrived and began abusing Tarale over the status posts. “He struck Tarale on the head with a beer bottle. Tarale collapsed, and Waghmare picked up a stone and bludgeoned him,” he said.Tarale’s friend immediately alerted the police. “Our team took Tarale to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead,” the officer said.Following the incident, Waghmare fled the spot but was later traced and arrested. “Waghmare worked as a delivery executive, while Tarale was unemployed,” he added.
