3 min readPuneMar 16, 2026 09:39 PM IST
The trial in the May 2025 Vaishnavi Hagavane dowry death case began in a sessions court in Pune on Monday against six persons, including five members of the family of expelled NCP leader Rajendra Hagavane. The first witness in the case was examined in court on Monday.
Vaishnavi (23) was found hanging on May 16 last year at her in-laws’ house in the Bhukum area of Pune. A First Information Report (FIR) was registered at Bavdhan police station under the Pimpri Chinchwad police jurisdiction based on a complaint filed by Vaishnavi’s father, Anil Sahebrao Kaspate (51). Police invoked charges related to dowry death, abetment of suicide, physical assault and criminal intimidation, among other sections.
Police booked Vaishnavi’s husband Shashank Hagawane; mother-in-law Lata Rajendra Hagawane; father-in-law and expelled NCP leader Rajendra Hagawane; sister-in-law Karishma Hagawane; and brother-in-law Sushil Hagawane. Police initially arrested Shashank, Lata and Karishma, and later arrested Rajendra and Sushil, who had been on the run for some time.
Police also charged a business associate of the family, Nilesh Chavan, with cruelty to Vaishnavi’s baby and threatening Vaishnavi’s father. Chavan was arrested from the Nepal border on May 30 last year when he was allegedly trying to flee the country. Besides these six accused, police also arrested five persons on charges of knowingly harbouring Rajendra and Sushil Hagavane while they were on the run.
In July last year, Pimpri Chinchwad police, who investigated the case, filed a 1,670-page chargesheet against 11 accused persons. In the second week of February this year, a sessions court in Pune framed charges against six accused in the case, including five members of the Hagawane family and Chavan.
Special Public Prosecutor in the case, Adv Ujjawala Pawar, said, “The trial against six accused in Vaishnavi Hagavane case began today. I examined the first witness in the case who was a panch for the inquest examination of the deceased. Charges are yet to be framed against the five other accused who have been booked for charges of knowingly harbouring two accused on the run.”
The five persons accused of harbouring the two absconding accused are Mohan alias Bandu Uttam Bhegade (60), a resident of Vadgaon Maval; Bandu Laxman Fatak (55), a resident of Lonavala; Amol Vijay Jadhav (35) and Rahul Dasharath Jadhav (45), both residents of Pusegaon in the Khatav area of Satara; and Pritam Veerkumar Patil (47), a resident of Kognoli in Chikodi taluka of Belgaum district in Karnataka.
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Pritam is the son of long-time Karnataka MLA Veerkumar Patil, who also served as energy minister during his tenure, police said. While the five members of the Hagawane family and Chavan are currently in prison under judicial custody, the five persons booked for harbouring the accused are out on bail, officials said.
