Pune Crime Files: When a man was roaming on the road with his wife's severed head in one hand and an ax in the other, the soul will tremble after knowing this.

PC: Zee News – India.Com

On the morning of October 9, 2015, residents of Sukhsagar Nagar in Pune's Katraj area were stunned when they saw an elderly man walking with a woman's head in one hand and an ax in the other. One of them informed the police control room, while others took photographs and recorded videos on their phones. The video of a man walking with a severed head went viral, causing a sensation in the city.

A motorcyclist informed a traffic policeman on duty nearby, following which the man was arrested and traffic policemen VK Kumkar, DN Jagtap and Bhalchandra Tanwar reached the spot. Assistant police inspector Sanjay Chavan and constables Rahul Kadam and Mukund Pawar, who were patrolling the area, also reached the spot and asked him to surrender. After the man placed the woman's head and the ax on the ground, policemen caught him and brought him to Bharati Vidyapeeth police station. Later they sent the woman's body to the hospital for post-mortem.

During interrogation, the man identified himself as Ramchandra Sheu Chavan (then 53 years old) and said that the head he was holding belonged to his wife Sonabai Chavan, who was about 45 years old. According to police investigation, Chavan, a native of Gulbarga, Karnataka, was living in Pune for the last 40 years and worked as a watchman at Oswal Plot near Ganga Ocean Park in Sukhsagar Nagar. Chavan lived in the Oswal plot with his wife, sons Rajesh and Umesh, daughter-in-law Sunita and two grandsons. His two daughters were married and lived outside Pune.

He said Chavan allegedly murdered his wife with an axe, because he suspected that she was having an affair with a family member. On the day of the murder, Chavan allegedly had a fight with Sonabai after her sons left for work. When the quarrel escalated, he allegedly locked his daughter-in-law and grandsons in the house and attacked Sonabai with an axe. He allegedly decapitated her, picked her up and the axe, and walked towards Rajesh Society in the area, police said.

They arrested Chavan for his murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They also invoked IPC section 498 (abducting a married woman with the intention that she may have illicit relations with another person) against him. Her daughter-in-law lodged a First Information Report (FIR) at Bharati Vidyapeeth police station.

They recorded statements of his family members and eyewitnesses who saw him carrying his wife's head. Chavan, who had no previous criminal record, allegedly killed her within seconds, police said. When the police produced her in a Pune court for custody for further investigation, a group of women tried to attack her. But the police sent him to another place.

In January 2016, the police filed a chargesheet against Chavan in a Pune magistrate court. Citing the post-mortem report, the police claimed that Sonabai had 26 wounds on her body and said that Chavan attacked her multiple times and then decapitated her.

Chavan pleaded innocent before the court and said that he had not killed his wife. He is still in jail. Defense lawyer Sangram Kolhatkar said, “The case is pending before the court. We have examined more than 20 witnesses. The police witnesses are yet to be examined…”