Karnataka - Belgaum   

Praveen Shintre shot dead in encounter

Belgaum: Praveen Shintre, who was wanted in six murders, including the rape and killing of Sheetal Chougale, was shot dead in an alleged encounter with the police here on Thursday.

The encounter took place at ‘Rajdeep bungalow’ in Laxminagar, where he raped and murdered Sheetal on August 11.

Shintre was arrested in Udupi on Wednesday and was brought to Belgaum to formalise his arrest and subsequent investigation.

According to Superintendent of Police Hemant Nimbalkar, the special police team constituted to nab Shintre arrested the accused at a hotel in Udupi at about 6 a.m. on Wednesday. The team and the accused soon left for Belgaum.

While the team was approaching Desur (15 km from Belgaum city), Shintre attacked the police and tried to escape. However, the police were able to prevent his escape.

Later during the investigation, Shintre revealed about his involvement in five murder cases and confessed to other crimes, including rape and murder of Sheetal Chougale, Mr. Nimbalkar said.

When Shintre disclosed about a revolver being hidden at Rajdeep bungalow, the police team took him there to recover the weapon.

The handcuffs were removed and Shintre was asked to take out the revolver kept in the toilet. Soon after laying his hands on the weapon, Shitre fired at police inspector Mahantesh. The bullet missed the target and hit a wall, he said.

The police then opened fire at Shintre, killing him on the spot. One bullet pierced his chest and another the abdomen.

Shintre was wanted in six contract killings. He killed Sheetal Chougale of Mannur village in Belgaum taluk on August 11, 2007; Raziya Elahi Badebahi, a Samajwadi Party worker and resident of Jadhav Nagar in the city on February 23, 2006; Sushila Gadageppa Shivapure of Radhakrishna Nagar in Hindwadi in the city on July 3, 2006; Maruti Sunita Dhamnekar of Saroli in Chandagad taluk of Kolhapur district (Maharashtra) and Somanath Rama Khanagaonkar of Shivaji Nagar in the city and Ganjanan Bapu Navagekar of Chougalewadi village in Belgaum taluk.

He was arrested under the Goonda Act in 2003 and 2005. But, he came out on bail. Shintre was arrested for several offences since 1995 and cases were registered at Malmaruti, Market, APMC, Camp and Belgaum Rural police stations in the city limits and Bagewadi police station.

In all, 14 cases were registered against him in these police stations, out which he was acquitted in 10 cases. Two cases registered at Malmaruti police station were closed. Soon after he was acquitted in some cases, Shintre joined politics and became president of the Samajwadi Party’s Belgaum city unit. He even shared the dais with S. Bangarappa, president of the State unit of the party, and Kannada film-maker Anand Appugol during a party workers’ meeting at Gandhi Bhavan in 2005.

However, he was removed from the party after the Sheetal murder case, sources said.

Inspector-General of Police (North Western Range) Raghavendra Auradkar, Mr. Nimbalkar and Additional Superintendent of Police S.K. Hegde visited the spot.

Later, the body of Shintre was taken to the district government hospital for post mortem. Further investigation is on, the police said.

The murder of Sheetal Chougale had led to an upsurge of anger among the people here.

The people, especially women, vowed to secure justice to the family of Sheetal. The women organised a huge protest on August 30 and a peaceful and successful bandh was observed in the city the following day to mount pressure on the police to nab Shintre.

The people wanted strict punishment for Shintre.

Superintendent of Police Hemant Nimbalkar had promised them that Shintre would be arrested soon.

Those living next to Rajdeep bungalow woke up to a shock on hearing the sound of gunfire at about 4.30 a.m. on Thursday.

Meera Parmekar told The Hindu that she heard the gunshots and dared to peep outside to see what was happening. On seeing the police vehicles, she could guess that it could be an encounter, but did not immediately know the “oth er party.”

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