Navi Mumbai: The long-awaited verdict in the Assistant Police Inspector Ashwini Bidre murder case is expected to be delivered on Saturday, April 5. The case has been listed for judgment by Additional Sessions Judge K.G. Paldewar at the Panvel Sessions Court, bringing an end to nearly seven years of trial in Alibaug and Panvel courts.
With the final hearing scheduled for tomorrow, the fate of the prime accused Abhay Kurundkar and other co-accused will be decided within the next two days. The court has examined 85 witnesses, and legal experts have long anticipated that the verdict would be delivered in early April.
The prime accused, dismissed Senior Police Inspector Abhay Kurundkar, allegedly murdered Ashwini Bidre at his residence in Mira Road. He was reportedly assisted in the crime by Rajesh Patil, Kundan Bhandari, and Mahesh Phalnikar. Special Public Prosecutor Adv. Pradeep Gharat represented the prosecution, while the defense was led by Adv. Vishal Bhanushali and Adv. Prasad Patil.
The final arguments in murder case of slain cop Ahwini Bidre got over in the last week of November 2024 after six long years of trial, with around submission of around 23 pages of final argument being submitted by special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat. Posted with Protection of Civil Rights Unit in Konkan Bhavan, Belapur, Bidre, a resident of Roadpali in Kalamboli, was missing since 15 April 2016 and a missing case was registered on 14 July 2016.
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.
The first accused Kurundkar and slain cop Asistant Police Inspector Ashwini Bidre were reportedly in a relationship. On the night of April 11, 2016, Kurundkar allegedly murdered Ashwini in Mira Road. He then allegedly dismembered her body using a wood-cutting machine and stored the pieces in a freezer.
The next day, the body parts were placed in a sack and dumped into the Vasai creek. After Ashwini went missing, a missing person complaint was filed at the Kalamboli Police Station on July 14, 2017. When it was revealed that Kurundkar was involved in her disappearance, a kidnapping case was filed on January 31, 2017.
The main accused police inspector Abhay Kurundkar had allegedly made incorrect records of his duty on the day of murder by mentioning different timings of his patrolling duty, wrong readings of his vehicle, in order to hide his crime, said Adv Gharat. After the murder, Kurundkar had used victim Bidre’s phone to send messages to her relative and her department saying that she was going for a meditation camp to North India.
According to the prosecution, five days before the murder, Kurundkar had asked one of the constables to purchase wood cutting power saw which was allegedly used to dismember the body which was dumped into Vasai creek by attaching weights of 25 kg metal blocks. The shop from where these weights were purchased were also identified.
The Call Detail Record (CDR) of Patil and that of the Kurundkar along with that of Bidre was at the same place on April 11, 2016, the day when she was last seen. The location all three was near Vasai creek at Bhayander on April 11, 2016 and after that Bidre went missing. On April 14, her phone had switched on for a brief time and after that it was never switched.
Bidre’s husband Raju Gore who had been following up with the case since last seven years and had been writing to state government demanding speedy justice in the case is hopeful that he would get justice. “I have faith in the judiciary and I am hopeful that justice will be served,” he said.
