Pen Police Arrest Two Men for Murder of Tribal Woman in Raigad

The Pen police in Raigad have arrested two men for the murder of a 35-year-old tribal woman near the Shitole tribal hamlet, after she refused their demands for sexual favours. The arrests of Ramavatar Kevat and Sunil Vishwakarma were made within 24 hours of registering a First Information Report (FIR), following the discovery of the victim's body on Monday, June 8.

The victim, identified as Ambi Janya Jadhav, was a resident of the Bhonguli tribal hamlet. Her body was found around 11:00 a.m. on Monday in a forest area near the Shitole tribal hamlet in Pen taluka, along the Mumbai-Goa highway. She was found semi-naked with injuries on her face.

According to Sandeep Bagul, the senior inspector of Pen, the victim was taken to the Alibaug Civil Hospital. Doctors there initially indicated that her death was caused by asphyxia due to smothering, as there were no strangulation marks on her neck. The body was then sent to the Panvel sub-district hospital for a detailed post-mortem examination. The post-mortem report will also confirm whether the victim was sexually assaulted.

The two arrested men, Kevat and Vishwakarma, are natives of Madhya Pradesh who worked at a stone crusher site in Mungoshi village, located in Pen taluka.

The police traced the suspects through technical analysis of mobile dump data from the crime scene. They identified a suspect mobile number registered to Bhanudas Deokar, who lives in Vaishet village, Alibaug. When detained for questioning, Deokar told police he had given his SIM card to Kevat, his former co-worker.

Following this lead, police inspected stone crusher sites in the area and detained Kevat from the Mungoshi site on Tuesday morning. During questioning, Kevat confessed that he and Vishwakarma killed the woman after she rejected their advances.

According to the police, Jadhav was estranged from her husband, and her two children live with her parents in a different hamlet. On Sunday, she went to a market to buy groceries, where the accused spotted her. When she rejected their demands, they followed her on an isolated road, assaulted her, smothered her when she cried for help, and dumped her body.