Pune, India: A deeply disturbing and calculated crime has emerged from Pune, Maharashtra, where a husband, reportedly inspired by a Bollywood movie, murdered his wife and attempted to eliminate all evidence by burning her body in a furnace. The incident highlights profound concerns about domestic violence and the negative influence of media on criminal behavior.
According to the police, the accused, Sameer Jadhav, who runs a garage, murdered his wife Anjali, a private school teacher. The couple lived in Pune’s Shivane area with their two children, who were fortunately away at the village for the Diwali holidays at the time of the murder.
Investigations revealed that on October 26, Sameer lured his wife to a secluded warehouse where he had preemptively prepared an iron furnace to destroy the evidence. He strangled Anjali to death, incinerated the body in the furnace, and then disposed of the ashes in a nearby river to ensure no trace remained.
Cinematic Motivation and Deception: The most shocking detail uncovered during the confession was the killer’s motive for his methodology: he admitted the entire murder plot was inspired by a Bollywood film, which he had watched at least four times. The accused also constructed an elaborate web of lies to conceal his motive. While initial suspicion focused on Sameer murdering his wife over doubts of infidelity, it was later revealed that Sameer himself was involved in a relationship with another woman. To mislead the police, he sent an ‘I love you’ message from Anjali’s phone to a friend and replied to it himself, aiming to frame his wife as being involved with another man.
Sameer tried to play the role of the worried husband, filing a false missing person report and frequently visiting the police station to request updates on his wife’s search. This repeated, feigned anxiety and inconsistencies in his statements eventually made the police suspicious. Following a thorough investigation involving CCTV footage and technical evidence, Sameer eventually confessed to the heinous crime.
