Pune: Nilesh Chavan (34), a business associate of Shashank Hagawane and co-accused in the Vaishnavi dowry death case, was on Saturday remanded in police custody till June 3. The court of judicial magistrate first class V P Khandare also extended the custodial remand of Vaishnavi’s father-in-law, Rajendra Hagawane (63), and brother-in-law, Sushil (27), till June 3.sThe court observed, “The remand report and case diary show there has been material progress in investigations. Chavan was taken into custody while he was in the process of crossing the India-Nepal border. There are allegations that he subjected Vaishnavi’s baby to cruelty and threatened her parents with a firearm. Chavan is involved in the alleged harassment and suicide abetment of the victim. The allegation against him is prima facie supported by the statement of witnesses.“The court stated that Chavan’s custodial interrogation was essential to ascertain his intention, motive and modus operandi, besides recovering his cellphones and collecting information related to the incident.The Pimpri Chinchwad police crime branch team arrested Chavan from Maharajganj district in Uttar Pradesh, close to the India-Nepal border, and brought him to Pune. Senior inspector Anil Vibhute of the Bavdhan police produced Chavan and the Hagawanes before the court. He filed two remand reports to send Chavan into custodial remand for five days and to extend the police custody of Hagawanes by three days.Pressing for Chavan’s police custody, assistant public prosecutor Vijaysinh Jadhav told the court that three cellphones were recovered from him. Jadhav requested sufficient time for the investigating officer to analyse the call detail records of the phones before and after the crime, text messages, and retrieve data if deleted for collecting evidence.Jadhav argued that Chavan’s custodial interrogation was essential to recover the phones of Vaishnavi’s mother-in-law, Lata, and sister-in-law, Karishma, believed to be in his possession. The prosecution sought time to ascertain Chavan’s motive behind keeping Vaishnavi’s child in his custody and to identify the places where he travelled, stayed, and the people who helped him while he was on the run.On extending the Hagawanes’ police custody, the prosecution said Rajendra and Sushil would be confronted with Chavan based on the data recovered from his phones to find out if any other person was involved in demanding dowry from the victim.Opposing the prosecution’s plea, defence lawyer Swansand Govindwar pleaded for magisterial custody of Chavan and the Hagawanes. He argued that the police had recovered Chavan’s phones, and the court earlier gave enough time to the police to interrogate the Hagawanes.The court upheld the prosecution’s plea.
