2016 Cop Murder Case: Ex-Police Officer, 2 Others Convicted For Killing API Ashwini Bidre

In the much-awaited murder case of slain cop Ashwini Bidre, the main accused, ex-cop Abhay Kurundkar has been found to be guilty by the Additional Sessions Judge K.G. Paldewar. Along with him, two others his driver Kundan Bhandari and friend Mahesh Phalnikar were also convicted for their roles in the crime by causing disappearance of evidence of the offence.

However, another accused, Raju Patil, was acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence establishing his direct involvement in the murder conspiracy.

Abhay Kurandkar.

The investigation revealed that Kurundkar brutally murdered Ashwini Bidre, dismembered her body, and dumped the parts into the Bhayandar creek in an attempt to destroy evidence. Being a police officer himself at the time, he used his knowledge and expertise to try and erase all traces of the crime. Despite this, circumstantial evidence strongly pointed to his involvement.

The court also found that Kurundkar forged documents and misled his senior officers to cover up the murder. His driver, Kundan Bhandari, brought the sack in which Bidre’s dismembered body was stuffed, while Mahesh Phalnikar helped in disposing of the remains in the creek. Bhandari had also purchased the iron weights required to tie on to the dismembered body parts before throwing into the creek.

Mahesh Falnikar

Additionally, Bhandari hired a painter to repaint the blood-stained walls of the house where the crime occurred. The vehicle used to transport the body was also repainted in an effort to eliminate forensic evidence. These acts led the court to find both Bhandari and Phalnikar guilty of aiding in the destruction of evidence.

Judge Paldewar emphasized the cruelty and calculated nature of the crime, citing it as an example of misuse of authority and betrayal of public trust by a law enforcement officer. “The mobile phone and the sim card of the accused were destroyed, the body of the deceased was never found due to which many raised doubts if the judgement would be favourable to us. The judgement proved that if the investigating officer is capable, the officer can get all digital footprints of the accused even if the sim card or the mobile phone of the accused is destroyed. One should not believe when anyone says that investigation cannot be done as the sim card and mobile phone has been destroyed,” Special Public Prosecutor Adv. Pradeep Gharat who presented the case, said.

Adv Pradeep Gharat

The investigations was handed over to me after two years of the incident and hence the investigation was challenging. Since last seven years, I have been regularly present for the dates of the case. We had produced 85 witnesses. It was a team work who gave there 100% in the investigations,” Sangeeta Alphonso, who is currently DySP at Palghar, said. Alphonso had arrested Bhandari and Phalnikar and collected evidences against them. She was responsible for all the technical investigation and collecting technical evidence in the case and had made massive attempts to find the body in the creek.

ACP Sangeeta Shinde Alphanso

The officer had used Google timeline location, did underwater investigation with the help of Oceanography department, Indian Navy divers. Satellite images too were procured to collect evidence. “There is no such rule that if body is not found, investigations cannot be done. We collected all possible circumstantial evidence. We did underwater digging, did ocean bed mapping and water scanning and found evidence that there were iron weights that were tied with the body, located deep down. We had used linguistic opinion as well in this case to understand if the message sent from the missing’s phone to her brother after she went missing, was sent by her or the accused,” the officer added.

Husband of the victim cop, Raju Gore mentioned that media played a major role for giving the highlight to the case due to which pressure was built on the government agencies to take the case seriously. “We are happy that the main accused has been found guilty,” Gore said.

Bidre, an assistant police inspector posted with the Protection of Civil Rights Unit in Konkan Bhavan in Belapur and resident of Roadpali in Kalamboli, went missing on April 15, 2016. A missing person’s case was registered on July 14, 2016, by her brother Anand Bidre.

On January 31, 2017, a kidnapping case was registered following which the key suspect, police inspector Abhay Kurundkar, who was attached to the Thane Rural Police, was arrested on December 7, 2017. The trial began on November 30, 2018, at the Alibag District Court. Later, the proceedings started at the newly formed Panvel session court, the case was transferred there.