Shepherd kills woman after grazing dispute, held

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The local crime branch of the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Rural police on Friday arrested a shepherd for allegedly stoning a 75-year-old woman, who was found murdered at a farm in Shekta shivar five days ago, following a dispute over grazing animals.The murder occurred on Feb 21 under the jurisdiction of Karmad police station. The deceased was identified as Sundarabai Namdev Jadhav, a resident of Shekta village.Police said Jadhav's body was found lying in a pool of blood in a field at a farm in Shekta Shivar. She had suffered head injuries after being attacked with a stone. Based on a complaint lodged by her son, Sanjay (51), the Karmad police registered an offence under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against an unidentified person.Considering the gravity of the offence, superintendent of police Vinaykumar Rathod directed the LCB to conduct a parallel probe. Additional SP Annapurna Singh said four teams were formed to investigate the case, including three led by inspector Vijaysing Rajput and one from the Karmad police station.Sub-divisional police officer Puja Nagare said, "The police teams conducted a detailed inspection of the crime scene, scanned CCTV footage in nearby areas and activated a network of informers in the village."During the investigation, Rajput received information that the accused, Darkuba Balaji Bhaule of Ladsawangi, had been grazing sheep in the Shekta area on the day of the murder. Though he frequently brought his flock there, he allegedly went missing after the murder.Further inquiry revealed that Bhaule had been working with a farmer in Shevgaon but had not reported for work for the past two days. Acting on technical inputs, the police traced and detained him from Golatgaon.According to the police, he said that Jadhav would object and abuse him whenever he grazed his sheep in the Shekta area. On the day of the murder, she again allegedly abused him, following which he attacked her with a large stone after finding her alone under a tree in the field.