Ashes in Iron Box, Cops Misled: Pune Man’s ‘Drishyam-Style’ Plot to Hide Wife’s Murder
A Pune man kills his wife, burns her body in an iron box, and files a fake missing case to mislead police.
Pune police have arrested 42-year-old garage owner Sammer Punjabrao Jadhav for strangling his wife, Anjali, 38, and burning her body in an iron box in a calculated murder he openly admitted was inspired by the Bollywood thriller Drishyam. The couple, living in Shivane’s Swami Sankul Apartment, had been trapped in escalating fights after Jadhav started an extramarital affair. To fuel arguments, he sent Anjali fake messages from a friend’s phone, painting her as unfaithful and building a trail of domestic strife.
Jadhav lured Anjali on a drive to Mariaai Ghat near Khed Shivapur, then stopped at a godown he had rented for ₹18,000 monthly at Gogalwadi Phata in Shindewadi. Inside the warehouse, while sharing a meal, he strangled her, sealed the body in a large iron box he had welded earlier, set it on fire with pre-stocked firewood, scraped the metal clean, and scattered the ashes in a nearby riverbed, erasing almost every trace.
Two days later, he filed a missing-person complaint at Warje-Malwadi Police Station and kept returning to play the anxious husband. Despite the case shifting to Rajgad Police Station, the original team dug deeper, spotting contradictions through CCTV footage and mobile records that shattered his story during interrogation.
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Deputy Commissioner Sambhaji Kadam called it a “detailed plan” involving weeks of preparation—renting the godown, building the box, and hoarding wood. Senior Inspector Vishvjeet Kinegade said technical evidence forced Jadhav’s full confession within hours.
The case has sparked fresh outrage over films inspiring real crimes, with police now questioning Jadhav’s lover and sealing the godown for forensic tests. What began as a missing-person drama has ended as one of Pune’s most chilling cinematic copycat murders.
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