Yerawada inmate killed with rock

Pune: A prisoner at Yerawada Central Jail in Pune killed a fellow inmate by bashing his head with a rock around 10.30 am on Saturday.

The deceased, Sukhdev Meghraj Mahapur (43), was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for kidnapping and has been in jail for the last seven months. He hailed from Vilan village in Ahmednagar. The accused, Dinesh Dabhade (35), is serving a life term for murder, and has been in jail for the last three years. He’s a resident of Goregoan, Mumbai.   

V.G. Tambe, assistant commissioner of police, Pune, said, “Mahapur was transcribing a letter that was being dictated by another inmate in the jail’s open space at the time of the incident. Inmates who are in jail for serious crimes such as murder are generally kept in the barracks, but they are let out for a few hours every day as per the rules.”

He added, “After the assault, the inmate who was dictating the letter ran to alert the jail personnel. When he returned with security guards, they found Mahapur’s corpse lying in a 5-metre-wide pool of blood. A post-mortem report confirmed that he had succumbed to head injuries.”    

Mr Tambe said, “We have got the murder weapon. We have three witnesses including the one who was dictating the letter to the deceased. We cannot arrest Dabhade, who is in the jail for murder, without the permission of the court that sentenced him, the Maharashtra secretariat and jail administration. The procedure to arrest him has begun and we will arrest him once we receive all the permissions.”

Ashok Kadam, police inspector, crime, Yerwada police station, “Dabhade and victim Mahapur were cellmates. They had quarrel in the jail kitchen eight days ago. Dabhade had fought with the victim saying he splashed dirty water on him. The authorities thought it was a trivial dispute.”