OTT & TV crime shows inspire mother & son to plan murder; Jamdi forest murder solved after 8-day probe

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The rural police in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar rural on Wednesday said they have cracked a complex murder case involving a woman and her 19-year-old son, accused of killing a man in Jamdi forest on the outskirts of Kannad taluka. Investigators said the crime was meticulously planned after watching crime-based TV serials, films and OTT content, and was allegedly triggered by the deceased repeatedly pressuring the woman for physical relations, which she opposed.The case had surfaced around noon on Jan 13 after the police received information about an unidentified body lying in the forest near Jamdi village, under the Kannad rural police station limits. A team from the local crime branch (LCB) and the police station went to the spot and conducted a panchnama. During village-level inquiries, the deceased was identified as Raju Pawar, a well-known resident of Jamdi. Based on a complaint lodged by his relative Prakash Pawar, the police registered a case under sections 103(1) and 238 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Superintendent of police Vinaykumar Rathod said the investigation was difficult due to the absence of immediate leads. "This was a blind and extremely sensitive case. We directed the LCB and Kannad rural police to carry out a coordinated probe using technical analysis as well as human intelligence," Rathod said.Additional SP Annapurna Singh, who had visited the spot and reviewed the investigation, said the accused tried to mislead the police. "The victim's belongings were deliberately scattered in different directions to confuse investigators. Despite this, the police teams continued verifying every small input," she said.LCB inspector Vijayasingh Rajput formed multiple teams that combed the forest, nearby bushes, agricultural fields and streams. During the search, the police recovered the victim's undergarment, a broken mobile phone and slippers from different locations, some at a considerable distance from the body, strengthening suspicion that the murder was pre-planned.Between Jan 13 and 20, the police questioned more than 50 people, including farmers and workers from surrounding villages, but early inquiries yielded no concrete leads. Investigators then relied on confidential informers and individuals familiar with the Banjara dialect to discreetly gather information from the village.The probe eventually led the police to a farm adjacent to the forest where the body was found. Though the land belonged to a govt employee, it was being cultivated by his wife, Vandana Pawar (45), and their 19-year-old son, Dhiraj, alias Tema Pawar. Suspicion deepened after the police learned that both were present on the farm around the time of the incident and that Vandana had destroyed her mobile phone about 15 days earlier, falsely claiming it fell into water.During sustained interrogation, Vandana allegedly confessed that the deceased persistently demanded physical relations, which she repeatedly rejected. She told police that she shared her distress with her son, after which they decided to eliminate him.According to police, on the morning of Jan 13, Vandana signalled Raju Pawar to come to the farm. When he came to a nearby thicket, Dhiraj allegedly struck him on the head several times while Vandana restrained him, resulting in his death. The body was then shifted to a dense forest patch and concealed under tree roots in a stream to avoid detection.The police said the son admitted that the planning, destruction of evidence and attempts to misdirect investigators were inspired by crime shows. "He confessed to watching ‘Crime Patrol', ‘CID', the film ‘Drishyam' and other crime-related OTT content, from which he learned methods of disposing of the body and scattering belongings," an officer said.Both Vandana Pawar and her son have been arrested. Further investigation is being conducted by the Kannad rural police.