Oil theft fallout: CBI to probe Sonawane killing

The Maharashtra government has decided to hand over the probe into the killing of Malegaon additional collector Yeshwant Sonawane to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Police added that the death of prime accused Popat Shinde won't affect the probe and the chargesheet will be filed on time.

Senior police officials said the state government is convinced about handing the case to the CBI. "An official announcement about the CBI probe is likely to be made on Tuesday," said an official.

To make the case watertight, the police plan to record the statement of prime witness Rajendra Kale alias Raju, Sonawane's personal assistant, before a magistrate. This will make it admissible in a court of law as evidence. "He has seen the crime being taking place and hence is a star witness," said an investigating officer. The complainant in the case is Kailash Gawli, Sonawane's driver.

Shinde and his two sons, Kunal (17) and Vikas (19), and son in-law, Deepak Borse had attacked Sonawane on 25 January after an argument over oil pilfering at Manmad. Kunal attacked Sonawane with an iron rod and Shinde allegedly poured a can of kerosene on him and set him afire.

However Sonawane held on to Shinde, setting him ablaze too. Gawli and Kale fled the scene. While Sonawane succumbed on the spot, Shinde was rushed to hospitals in Manmad, Malegaon, Nashik and finally admitted to Mumbai's JJ Hospital with over 75 per cent burns. He died at 1.10 pm on Monday.

''Shinde had severe burns in his respiratory tract. We had scheduled a debridement surgery for Monday to remove the infection ... he died before we could operate on him,'' said Dr T P Lahane, dean, JJ Hospital.