Inquiries into the sensational Pune murder case have revealed that victim 15-year-old Shubham Shirke was not even the original intended target for the crime, and that his trust and friendship with the accused resulted in his death.
According to the Vishrantwadi police, during interrogation, the accused, Amit Nair and two minors, have said that they had originally planned to kidnap the son of a gold trader based in Apte Wadi, Pune. Senior police inspector M.D. Rathod said, “It has come to our attention that Shubham was not the original target, and we are verifying this information.”
“The accused were sure that the trader would have a lot of money, and would readily pay in cash in exchange for his son’s release. On Saturday afternoon, the accused called the trader’s son and invited him to go for a drive in Dighi. However, the boy refused to go with them, which presented a dilemma for the accused,” said an officer with the Vishrantwadi police.
The trio then hit upon the idea of targeting Shubham, as he was their friend and trusted them. They reasoned that even if Shubham’s father Mahadev Shirke could not cough up `50 lakh, he would surely be able to pay at least some of the amount. True to their belief, Shubham accepted their invitation and ended up being kidnapped and killed by them. Mr Shirke even paid `15 lakh to secure his release, but Shubham was already dead, as keeping him alive was too big a risk for the accused, the police said. Meanwhile, Shubham’s family has demanded strict action against the accused, asking that they be hanged in a public square for what they have done. “Even though there are no laws supporting such punishment, amendments should be made in my son’s case. It does not matter that two of the accused are minors,” said Shubham’s mother Sangita. She added that Shubham was brilliant with computers.