2 weeks Ago By Mihir Tanksale
Pune: Techie Rakesh Khedekar (36), suspected of having killed his wife Gouri Sambrekar (32) on the night of March 26 in their Bengaluru house, tried to end his life by consuming phenyl and a cockroach-killing chemical in his car at Shirwal, about 51km from the city, when he was on the run on Thursday night. He was stable on Friday and under treatment in Pune's state-run Sassoon General Hospital . A Bengaluru police team has reached the hospital to take his custody once he is discharged.
Rakesh's father, Rajendra, who reached Sassoon hospital on Friday, told reporters that Gouri was his niece (daughter of his sister). "We were not ready for Rakesh and Gouri's marriage as we felt she was quarrelsome by nature. However, the two were firm and got married about two years ago.
Gouri always fought with my son and other family members. Many times, we had to approach the police," Rajendra said. About when Rakesh informed him about the murder, Rajendra said, "Rakesh called me on Thursday afternoon and told me about what had happened in Bengaluru.
He even said that he was going to end his life. I told him not to take such a drastic decision. I told him to inform Gouri's mother and the police.
I immediately went to the Meghwadi police station (at Jogeshwari in Mumbai) and informed them about the incident." Senior inspector Yashwant Nalawade of the Shirwal police said, "As Rakesh revealed to us, after stuffing his wife's body in a suitcase and leaving it at home (in Bengaluru), he drove his car to Kagal, on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border. He purchased phenyl and chemical there, drove up to Shirwal via Khambatki ghat and stopped alongside the road to consume the chemical.
" Nalawade said, "As Rakesh suffered from uneasiness, he called his neighbour in Bengaluru to narrate his act and stepped out of his car. A motorcyclist passing by his car spotted him in discomfort. Rakesh narrated his Bengaluru act and suicide attempt to the biker, who then took him to a hospital in Shirwal.
" The senior police inspector said, "A constable at the hospital took note of the medico-legal matter and alerted us. Then we reached the hospital. By then, the Bengaluru police, which was tracking Khedekar's cellphone location, realised that he was in Shirwal and alerted the Satara district superintendent of police (SP).
When the SP called us to pass on the information, we confirmed to him that the suspect was under treatment in the hospital." Rakesh was later moved to another private hospital in Katraj in Pune before being taken to the Sassoon hospital on Friday morning. Sassoon hospital's medical superintendent Yellapa Jadhav told TOI, "The man was brought to the hospital around 8am on Friday.
He was brought in with mild symptoms like burning sensation in the stomach and high acidity levels. As of now, he is admitted in the general ward and is stable." (With inputs from Abhijeet Patil & Steffy Thevar) Stay updated with the latest city news , Air Quality Index (AQI), and weather updates for major cities like Delhi , Mumbai , Noida , and Bangalore on Times of India .
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