Pune: Murder Convict Serving Life Sentence Escapes Yerwada Open Prison; Search Underway

On August 19, Raju Pandharinath Dusane, a 43-year-old inmate serving a life sentence for murder at Yerwada Central Jail, reportedly escaped from custody. Dusane, hailing from Mahalgaon, Vaijapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, managed to flee while serving his sentence. Police constable Avinash Pawar of Yerwada Jail has lodged a complaint, leading to the registration of a case at Yerwada Police Station.

According to the police, the accused Raju Pandharinath Dusane was arrested in 2015 for a murder case that occurred in the Warje Malwadi area of Pune. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Additional Sessions Court in February 2021 for his involvement in the murder. Since then he has been serving his time in Yerawada Jail.

In August 2019, the jail authorities were taking a roll call of the inmates in the evening time and found Dusane missing. An immediate search operation was initiated in the jail premises but Dusane was nowhere to be found.   The jail authorities finally declared that prisoner number 1056 Raju Pandharinath Dusane had escaped from the open jail while he was serving his sentence. A case has been registered in the Yerwada Police Station and further investigation is being conducted by Assistant Police Inspector Jaibhai.

Raju Pandharinath Dusane allegedly hacked his wife Savita Raju Dusane to death with a sickle following a domestic dispute at his residence in Akashnagar, in Warje on January 30, 2015. Later Raju Dusane walked into the Warje police station and surrendered himself to the police claiming that he murdered his wife. However, he had denied killing his wife during the trial in the court. The Sessions Court had convicted Raju Dusane and sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2021.

Dusane originally hails from Manegaon in Vaijapur taluka of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and moved to Pune and worked as a labourer. Raju was an alcoholic and would often indulge in fights with his wife Savita. The search for Raju Dusane has been initiated by the Pune Police and further probe is underway.