Ex-NCP Councillor Shot Dead in Pune, Sister Arrested

Mumbai: Former National Congress Party (NCP) corporator Vanraj Andekar was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Nana Peth area in Pune late Sunday night. Police on Monday arrested Andekar’s sisters, Sanjeevani and Kalyani, and brothers-in-law Jayant and Ganesh in this case.

Andekar, a member of the NCP led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, died after he was attacked by a group of eight to nine people who came on motorcycles. The assailants fired approximately five bullets at Andekar before attacking him with sharp weapons. Despite being rushed to KEM Hospital, he was pronounced dead.

“We have arrested four people, including two sisters of the deceased and their husbands, in connection with the attack. Though the immediate trigger is yet to be probed, the primary investigation hints at an old enmity and family and property-related disputes,” said Ranjankumar Sharma, Joint Commissioner of Police.

The police told the media that Vanraj was the son of Bandu alias Suryakant Andekar, a notorious history-sheeter, who has been implicated in cases of murder and extortion. Vanraj won the civic elections in 2017 from the Rasta Peth - Raviwar Peth ward. Earlier his mother Rajashree Andekar was elected as a corporator in 2007 and 2012.