‘Dr death’ admits to killing six

Pune, Aug 16 (PTI) A 42-year-old doctor from Sataradistrict of Maharashtra, arrested last week in connection withthe murder of a woman anganwadi worker, has made a chillingconfession that he killed five more people, including fourwomen, between 2003 and 2016, police said today. The accused, Santosh Pol from Wai, also tried to misleadthe investigators probing the "disappearance" of the anganwadiworker, Mangala Jedhe, by giving a written complaint to policesaying Jedhe had duped him by taking his 20 tola gold on thepromise of doubling it. "Dr Pol spilled the beans on the multiple murders duringinterrogation in the case of 47-year-old Jedhe’s death,following which police exhumed four bodies, apart fromJedhe’s, from his farmhouse last night," Sandip Patil,Superintendent of Police, Satara, told PTI. Pol, who is being dubbed as "Dr Death", is in policecustody till August 19 after his arrest on August 11 forallegedly kidnapping and murdering Jedhe, president ofMaharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh, on June 16. According to police, Pol and his aide Jyoti Mandre, anurse who allegedly had an illicit relationship with theaccused, kidnapped Jedhe and killed her by administering alethal dose of a medicine and buried her near the doctor’sfarmhouse. "Pol and Mandre had kidnapped Jedhe from a bus stop inWai on June 15, when she was on her way to visit her daughterin Pune, and took her to his poultry farm near Dhome village,where she was murdered by administering overdose of lethalmedicine and was buried," Patil said in a press release. "However, in order to mislead the police, Pol approachedthe local crime branch and filed a written complaint, accusingJedhe of duping him by taking his 20 tolas gold with a promisethat she would double it," he said. Police also said he registered a case with the localpolice that unidentified people had attacked him. "Since wewere investigating the missing case of Jedhe and needle ofsuspicion turned to him, he even tried to put pressure onpolice by using different means, like agitations," Patil said. After checking the call details of Pol and Mandre,police came to know that Jedhe was in contact with them andzeroed in on the latter, who later spilled the beans. Policethen picked up Pol on August 11. He later showed the placewhere he had buried Jedhe. During his interrogation, Pol told police that besidesJedhe, he had killed five women and one man in a similarfashion between 2003 and 2016. "Pol had killed Surekha Chikane on May 20, 2003. InAugust 2006, one Vanita Gaikwad became his victim. On August13, 2010, he killed one Jagabai Pol. A jeweller named NathamalBhandari was killed on December 7, 2015 and on January 172016, he murdered one Salma Shaikh and on June 16 this year,he killed Jedhe," police said. MORE PTI SPK DK NPSK