In a sensational revelation, Dr Santosh Pol — a practising doctor from Wai town in Satara district in western Maharashtra who was arrested on Saturday for allegedly abducting and killing an aanganwadi worker — has confessed to the police that he had murdered six persons by administering some lethal medicines.
Confirming the development, Senior Inspector of Wai town police station in Satara district told The Pioneer on Monday evening, “He has confessed to having committed six murders. Of the people killed, we have recovered the bodies of five persons. Currently, we are interrogating him as to the whereabouts of the sixth body”.
Dr Pol, who was arrested on August 12, will be in police custody till August 19.
The persons whom Pol — who has come to be known as “Dr Death” in local circles — allegedly killed, comprised five women and one man.
All the murders came to light after the disappearance of 49-year old (Mrs) Mangal Jedhe, president of Maharashtra Purva Prathmik Shikshika Sevika Sangh (MPPSSS), under the suspicious circumstances.
Since 2003, there had been reports about the disappearance of at least five women from Wai town.
Investigations have revealed that Pol and his men allegedly abducted Jedhe while she was on her way to Pune on June 16 for her daughter’s child delivered.
“Jedhe went missing after she threatened Pol that she would expose his shady activities. Our information is that she was abducted from the Wai bus station by Pol and his nurse Jyoti Mandre and taken to his farm house where she was killed after administering overdose of some medicines,” MPPSSS general secretary Shaukat Pathan said.
A day after Jedhe’s death, Pol and his nurse secretly buried her body near the farmhouse.
During the prolonged investigations into a complaint about Jedhe’s disappearance, the Wai police questioned Mandre who spilled the beans. The investigators tracked down Pol at Dadar in north-central Mumbai, where they arrested him.
Having recovered the bodies of five of the six whom Pol had allegedly murdered, the police are looking for the sixth body. Though there was no official confirmation from the police, Pol has reportedly confessed to the investigators that he had thrown the sixth body — that of a male person — in nearby Dhom dam.
Though the investigators are trying to establish the motive behind the six murders, it is being speculated that the arrested doctor’s insatiable lust for women might have been one of the reasons for the serial crimes.