Desperate to nab Yogesh Raut, prime accused in the Nayana Pujari kidnap, gang-rape and murder case, the Pune police officers had even consulted a self-styled godman, who told them that Raut was hiding in a forest near his village.

A senior officer from the Pune police crime branch, who spoke to dna on condition of anonymity, said, “We decided to consult a godman because we were desperate to track down Raut. We were under pressure to find him. Every now and then our superiors would ask us about the progress in investigations and we had none to report.

“Even home minister RR Patil had asked us to get Raut. We had collected all information about the suspect. We had also checked his whereabouts and phone calls regularly, but there was no clue.”

“Frustrated, we once met a Maharaj (godman) seeking his help to solve the case,” said the officer.

The officer said, “He told us that Raut was holed up in a forest near his village Golegaon and his mother was providing meals to him. After that, we kept a watch but it did not pay off.”

Confirming this with dna, senior police inspector Satish Govekar of the anti-dacoity cell (ADC), who has solved the case, said, “Yes, our team members had approached the godman to get a clue, but it did not work out.”

The Pune police had also intercepted phone calls of Raut’s brother and other relatives. “Thus we found that the relatives were receiving calls from Raut made at telephone booths in Delhi. That was when the decision to zero in on Delhi was taken. It was quite difficult to trace out telephone booths in Delhi. It took much of our time, but we could not track him down. We showed his photographs to people in various area of Delhi and then came to know about his whereabouts.

We came to know he had already left for Shridi. We then laid a trap at Shirdi and arrested him,” Govekar added.

Raut wanted to earn more money to pay lawyer’s feesInterrogation of the suspect, Yogesh Raut revealed that he planned to be on the run for a couple of years, work and save money to pay the fees of a good lawyer and return to Pune. Moreover, he had met his family members and had given them Rs15,000. Police inspector Satish Govekar of anti-dacoity cell (ADC) told dna, “Raut told us he was working to collect money for his lawyer’s fee.

He wanted to earn more money. In the past, he had been short of money. He thought that if he gave good money to a lawyer, he would be acquitted in the case.” Raut had a job with a private firm six months ago and was earning Rs8,000 per month.