After City Police’s success, CBI to reopen Eknath Nimgade murder case
    Date :07-Apr-2021

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By Shirish Borkar :
 
CENTRAL Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would reopen the file of architect-cum-valuer Eknath Nimgade murder case after completing the necessary legal formalities, according to reliable sources. The country’s premier investigation agency had closed the file as it could not get any concrete evidence against the suspects even after announcing a bounty of Rs five lakh to the person(s) providing concrete information about the killer(s) involved in the sensational homicidal case that rocked the Second Capital more than four years ago. Last month, Crime Branch officers under the leadership of Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar cracked the murder mystery of 70-year-old Nimgade, who was shot dead near Agrasen Petrol Pump on September 6, 2016. City Police officers conducted preliminary investigations and found that it was a case of contract killing with involvement of as many as 15 hard-core criminals from Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
 
They eliminated Nimgade after an advance of Rs 1.75 crore of Rs five crore ‘Supari’. Nagpur Police had claimed that some anti-socials eyeing on Nimgade’s landed property worth Rs 200 crore had given a contract to dreaded goon Ranjit Safelkar who roped in Sharad alias Kalu Hatey in the crime. They contacted another goon Nawab alias Chhote Sahab Ashrafi alias Nubbu and fixed the contract at Rs five crore. Kalu Hatey had given Rs 1.20 crore in two installments to Nubbu in July, 2016. Nubbu and others asked sharp-shooter Baba alias Raja POP alias Mohsin Ansari Badruddin Ansari (28), a resident of Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh; Parwez, a resident of Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh and one Baba from Uttar Pradesh. Nine others were also part of the murder conspiracy. They pumped eight bullets into the septuagenarian from point blank range when he was returning home on a moped after a morning walk at Agrasen Garden. After the incident, Tehsil Police had registered a murder case.
 
The deceased’s family had maintained that the dispute over a five-and-half acre land adjoining Wardha Road was the reason behind the murder. The bereaved family had also named five persons, including two prominent builders and a former union minister, as suspects. The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court had directed the CBI to take over the investigation from Crime Branch of Nagpur Police after Nimgade’s son Adv Anupam had petitioned against the lackadaisical probe. Mumbai-based CBI’s Crime Branch then had started the probe. As the motive behind Nimgade’s murder could not be established, CBI officers had conducted deception detection tests, narco-analysis, polygraph and brain mapping of a few suspects but were unable to get any clue.
 
The investigators had interrogated several goons, mostly dealing in disputed properties in this connection. They had also procured footage of CCTV cameras installed near the spot where the crime took place but could not establish the identity of the killer. After arresting accused Safelkar, Kalu Hatey and a few others for their involvement in Manish Shriwas murder case, city police informed the CBI about the suspects. Sources said that the CBI would submit an application to the court to restart the probe in the matter. Bureau officers may arrest the suspects, who are presently in the custody Crime Branch of City Police, after they were remanded to magisterial custody.