Pune: The court of judicial magistrate first class Amol Shinde on Tuesday extended the custodial remand till June 7 of Nilesh Chavan, business associate of Shashank Hagawane and co-accused in the dowry death case of Vaishnavi Hagawane. The court sent Vaishnavi’s father-in-law Rajendra Hagawane and brother-in-law to magisterial custody remand till June 16. They were later sent to the Yerawada Central Jail.Bavdhan police’s senior inspector Anil Vibhute produced Chavan and the Hagawanes before the court following the end of their initial custodial remand. Vibhute filed a remand report to extend Chavan’s custodial remand by five days and sought magisterial custody for Hagawanes.Assistant public prosecutor Nitin Adagale told the court that the custodial interrogation of Chavan was essential because the police recovered a firearm licence, revolver and two cellphones of Vaishnavi’s mother-in-law Lata and Shashank’s sister Karishma from him. Adagale argued that investigations revealed Chavan’s involvement in a criminal conspiracy along with the other co-accused and sought time to find out if he mistreated Vaishnavi’s nine-month-old boy and why had he forcibly taken possession of the child.The prosecution said Chavan was communicating with the other co-accused over the phone and sought time to examine their call records and collect details of financial transactions done by them, if any, for the purpose of collecting evidence. The prosecutor relied on the statement of witnesses stating that Chavan abetted the victim’s suicide in the case and prayed that sufficient time be given to the police for detailed investigations.Defence lawyer Swanand Govindwar opposed the prosecution’s plea on the grounds that the court had given enough time for Chavan’s questioning and his custodial interrogation was not essential. The court upheld the prosecution’s plea on the grounds that there was sufficient progress in the investigations.Vaishnavi’s husband, mother-in-law arrested in cheating caseMIDC Mhalunge police on Tuesday secured the custody of Vaishnavi Hagawane’s husband Shashank and mother-in-law Lata from the Yerawada Central Jail and arrested them for duping a farmer to the tune of Rs11.7 lakh in a case relating to an excavation machine transaction since March 20, 2022. Khed court judicial magistrate first class JB Mhaske sent the duo to police custody remand for three days.Farmer Prashant Yelwande (33), a resident of Nighoje village in Khed, registered a complaint with the police on May 29 stating that he had purchased an excavation machine in Lata’s name for Rs11.7 lakh through a recovery agent and was paying EMI of Rs 50,000 per month to Shashank. However, instead of depositing the money in the bank, Shashank colluded with the agent and got the machine seized from Yelwande’s possession and duped him. Later, Shashank refused to return the machine or repay the EMI paid by Yelwande and allegedly threatened him with a gun.
