Pune: A gang of seven to eight youngsters hacked an 18-year-old youth to death with sharp weapons around 12.15am on Wednesday at Panchashilnagar in Yerawada.The Vishrantwadi police have identified the deceased as Gaurav Telangi, who was residing in Narhe. Telangi’s friend lodged a complaint with the police. In the complaint, he claimed that he and other friends heard a gunshot and one of the suspects was carrying a firearm.Deputy commissioner of police (zone-IV) Chilumula Rajnikanth told TOI, “The police are verifying the complainant’s claim. We, however, did not find an empty cartridge at the spot. The post-mortem report has also confirmed that there were no bullet injuries on Telangi’s body.”The DCP said Telangi had some dispute with one of the suspects when the former was staying at Shivajinagar before shifting to Narhe a year ago. Telangi and his murder suspects have cases, including attempt to murder and rioting, against them with the Shivajinagar police.“We suspect that the suspects plotted Telangi’s murder,” the DCP said.According to the complainant, Telangi had called him on Tuesday afternoon and told him that he planned to attend a programme organised in Vishrantwadi on the occasion of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s birth anniversary. Around 10pm, Telangi, the complainant and a few of their friends reached Panchshilnagar at Yerawada, where they had parked their vehicles because the road ahead was closed for traffic.“Around 12.15am on Wednesday, when they returned to the spot where they had parked the vehicles, the suspects attacked Telangi with sharp weapons. When Telangi started running away, they chased him and assaulted him. They also bludgeoned him with cement blocks,” an officer from the Vishrantwadi police said.He said friends of the deceased and passersby started running helter-skelter. After the suspects left, Telangi’s friends returned to the spot and took him to Sassoon General Hospital in an autorickshaw. Telangi succumbed to the injuries during treatment. “The complainant has given us the names of the three people out of seven to eight suspects. We have formed teams to trace them,” he said.
