Pune Horror: Man Kills Wife In ‘Drishyam Style’; Hides Body, Ashes Inside Iron Box

In a shocking case that appears to mirror the plot of the Bollywood thriller Drishyam, police in Pune, Maharashtra, have arrested a 42-year-old man accused of murdering his wife and destroying all evidence to conceal the crime. The accused, identified as Sammer Punjabrao Jadhav, has reportedly confessed that he was “influenced by the movie” while planning the killing, police said on Saturday.

Background Of The Accused

Jadhav, who lives at Swami Sankul Apartment near the Talathi office in Shivane, runs an automobile garage and holds a diploma in automobile engineering. His wife, Anjali Sammer Jadhav, 38, was a teacher at a private school.

According to investigators, their marriage had begun to deteriorate after Sammer allegedly got involved in an extramarital affair. In an attempt to provoke conflict and cast suspicion on his wife, he started sending her messages from a friend’s phone, making it seem as though she was having an affair herself.

Case Insights

Police said Jadhav executed his plan on October 26. That day, he took Anjali out for a drive to Mariaai Ghat near Khed Shivapur, pretending it was a casual outing. On their way back, he diverted their route and took her to a godown (warehouse) he had secretly rented at Gogalwadi Phata in Shindewadi.

Once inside, while sharing a meal, he strangled her to death. The warehouse, police revealed, had been rented a month earlier for ₹18,000 per month, part of Jadhav’s elaborate plan to cover his tracks.

After the murder, he placed Anjali’s body inside a large iron box that he had specially made for this purpose. He then set the box on fire using firewood he had stored in advance. Once the body was completely burned, he collected the ashes and dumped them in a nearby riverbed to destroy the remaining evidence.

He even went as far as scraping and cleaning the metal box to eliminate any traces of the crime.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Sambhaji Kadam stated, “The accused had hatched a detailed plan. He had taken the godown on ₹18,000 monthly rent, made the iron box at the place and also stored firewood.”

The ‘Drishyam-Style’ Cover-Up

Just like in the film ‘Drishyam’, who covers up a murder with meticulous planning, Sammer tried to divert the investigation. Two days after killing his wife, he went to the Warje-Malwadi Police Station and filed a missing person’s report, pretending to be a distressed husband.

He reportedly visited the police station multiple times, enquiring about the case’s progress and urging officers to find his wife. Initially, the investigation was transferred to the Rajgad Police Station, but the Warje-Malwadi Police continued to assist due to the suspicious nature of the case.

However, inconsistencies in Sammer’s statements began to raise red flags. Senior Inspector Vishvjeet Kinegade stated, “We found discrepancies in the information shared by the accused after analyzing CCTV footage and technical evidence. We called him for questioning, and during interrogation, he confessed to the crime.”

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