Former police inspector Abhay Kurundkar, a recipient of the President's medal, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Maharashtra court for the 2016 murder of assistant police inspector Ashwini Bidre-Gore, with whom he was in an extra-marital relationship.
The verdict was delivered by Additional Sessions Court Judge K G Paldewar (Panvel), who had convicted Kurundkar last month under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, including murder.
Kurundkar's associates, Kundan Bhandari and Mahesh Phalanikar, were held guilty of destruction of evidence and sentenced to seven years in jail.
API Ashwini Bidre-Gore murder
Ashwini Bidre-Gore (37), an Assistant Police Inspector (API) with the Navi Mumbai police's human rights cell, went missing on April 11, 2016. Initially, police registered a case of abduction against Abhay Kurundkar, then an inspector with the Thane Rural police, along with his driver Bhandari and friends Dyandev Patil (later acquitted) and Palnikar.
During the investigation, the charge was upgraded to murder. According to police, Kurundkar, who was in an extra-marital relationship with Bidre-Gore, killed her on the same day she went missing, with the help of his associates. The murder took place in Mukund Plaza, Bhayander (Thane district). Her body was allegedly dismembered, stored in a refrigerator, and later disposed of in the Bhayander creek.
Kurundkar, who was awarded the President’s medal for meritorious service on Republic Day in 2017, was arrested on December 7 that same year.
(With PTI inputs)
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