Two men have been arrested in Pune, Maharashtra, for allegedly burying a friend who died in July after falling from a 100-foot transmission tower while trying to steal power cables, according to reports by PTI and The Times of India (TOI). The two accused did not inform the police or the victim's family about his death.
A report in The Indian Express said the men had been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and quoted police as saying that the accused made the victim climb the tower despite knowing the risks involved.
The deceased has been identified as Basavraj Mangrule, 22, a resident of the Sinhgad Road area of Pune. The incident came to light after Mangrule’s family filed a missing-person's complaint on July 23. The family told police that Mangrule had been missing since he left for Pabe village with one of the accused on July 11.
The accused have been identified as Saurabh Renuse and Rupesh Yenpure, both aged 25.
On July 13, the three men were allegedly trying to steal cables from a defunct electricity tower located near Ranjane village in Velhe tehsil. Mangrule, while cutting a wire, fell and died due to a suspected head injury.
Renuse and Yenpure did not take Mangrule to hospital and instead buried him in the Pabe forest, an official from Sinhgad Road police station said.
During the investigation, the police analysed the victim’s call data records and traced Mangrule’s final location through cellphone towers.
According to TOI, the police found that the accused were the people the victim was last in touch with. They were summoned to the police station for questioning. During the interrogation, they confessed to having buried Mangrule after his death.
The accused then showed police the spot where Mangrule had been buried. TOI quoted a police official as saying that the decomposing body was exhumed in the presence of a tehsildar.