Pune police have registered a case of abetment to suicide against a man and an unidentified person after a 22-year-old computer engineer died following alleged threats involving a fabricated drug case and demands for money in the city’s Kharadi area.
The case was registered by Kharadi police on a complaint filed by the engineer’s father. The complainant has alleged that one of the accused claimed to be a police officer from Haryana and threatened to arrest the young man for allegedly supplying drugs to women in Pune. Police have not yet established the identity or role of the people involved in the alleged calls and financial transactions.
The deceased was identified as Shikhar Kumargaurav Saxena, originally from Haridwar in Uttarakhand. According to the report, he had completed a BTech degree in Himachal Pradesh and moved to Pune on July 23 after securing employment with a company in the Magarpatta area. He initially stayed at a hotel in Hinjewadi before moving into a paying guest accommodation in Kharadi on September 1.
According to the complaint, Saxena’s mother received a call from an unfamiliar number on the evening of September 30. The caller asked about Saxena. When his father sought information about the number, he was told that it belonged to a person named Ajaykumar Bhatia. The father later contacted Bhatia, who allegedly first claimed to be Saxena’s friend and subsequently said he was a sub-inspector posted in Sector 29 of Gurugram.
The father has alleged that the caller claimed to have received a complaint that Saxena was supplying drugs to women in Pune and threatened that he would be arrested. The complaint states that the alleged threats created severe mental pressure on the engineer. Police have registered the case against Bhatia and an unidentified person under provisions relating to abetment to suicide.
After Saxena’s phone was switched off and he could not be contacted, his family began searching for him. His maternal uncle also filed a missing-person complaint at Kharadi police station. On October 1, Saxena was found seriously injured after falling from a building at Riverdale Suites Society in Kharadi. He was taken to Sassoon Hospital, where doctors declared him dead before treatment could begin.
The complaint also refers to WhatsApp conversations, screenshots of financial transactions and details of money sent to different accounts that were allegedly found on Saxena’s laptop. His father has claimed that the people involved demanded money while issuing threats. The police investigation will examine the identity of the callers, the purpose and recipients of the payments, the online communications and whether the alleged threats were directly connected to the death.
The case highlights the risks faced by young professionals who move to Pune for work and rely on digital communication, banking and rented accommodation soon after arriving in the city. The immediate focus of the investigation is to verify the alleged impersonation, trace the financial trail and determine the circumstances surrounding the threats. Kharadi police are continuing the inquiry.
