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Retired Lt Colonel found dead in car

Michael Gonsalves in Pune

In a blood-curdling incident, a retired lieutenant colonel was burnt alive under mysterious circumstances in his car around 10.45am on Tuesday.

The Chaturshringi police have registered a case of murder after studying various circumstances and eye witness accounts. The killers are yet to be identified.

According to reports, the police control room received a call around 11.15 am informing them about a burning vehicle at an isolated spot near the Keerti Garden restaurant, about 20 kms from Pune off the Sus-Baner Road.

Fifty eight-year-old Lt Col Sadhu Singh Tolu Singh had left his residence at Ratan Park housing society, on the road leading to the National Defence Academy, for his office in Thergao in his Premier Padmini (MVL- 4355) around 9.30 am.

Around two hours later, a watchman from the Kirti Gardens Restaurant noticed the car burning and informed the city and rural police control rooms as well as the Chuturshrunghi police station over the phone.

The fire brigade and police rushed to the spot and found a white car ablaze in an isolated spot in a hilly area.

After dousing the flames, they pulled out of the car the charred and absolutely unrecognisable body of the occupant.

The police traced the car to Lt Col (retd) Sadhu Singh Tolu Singh of the Pune-based Armament Research Development Establishment, Pashan.

The Crime Branch and Chaturshingi police immediately traced his residence at Ratan Park D 1, Sus Road.

Singh was identified by his daughter Raji on the basis of her father's wrist watch, pen and steel khada found in the car.

She told the police that her father left home at around 9.30 am that morning to go to his office in Pudumjee Park, where he ran a transport business.

His death occurred just 1.5 kilometre away from his residence. Police, meanwhile, fanned out over the entire area in search of eyewitnesses and the probable culprits.

A watchman, Govind Rajmunni Appa, and a casual labourer identified as only Ibrahim, gave almost the same account of the ghastly incident.

Appa claimed to have seen some men mysteriously leaving the spot, while Ibrahim was allegedly threatened by four men on two scooters who ordered him to leave the spot immediately and not to look left or right. "Tumhne kuch dekha nahi, tumne kuch suna nahi " (you haven't seen nor heard anything) they warned him.

The four, reportedly disappeared towards Sus Road after threatening Ibrahim who was on his way to work at a construction site in the area.

Meanwhile, the initial examination of the car showed that there was no sign of an accident or engine explosion. The car hood and engine were intact and not burnt while the seats, the center, and back portion were totally charred, police said.

Almost 80 per cent of the car's glass had been gutted and the wind shield and windows were smashed. The police are tight-lipped about the motive behind the killing and say that all angles will be examined. They did not rule out business rivalry, old enmity or even the hand of highwaymen at this stage.

Police said Singh had retired from the ARDE about six years back and started Classic Carriers transport company in partnership with his former colleague A J Thomas about four years back.

The police have also appealed to the public to avoid unnecessary panic following the incident.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Surinder Kumar of the Crime Branch and Police Inspector Manikarjun Apune of Chaturshingi are heading the investigation.

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