Police inspector Abhay Kurundkar, who allegedly kidnapped and murdered assistant inspector Ashwini Bidre-Gore in April 2016, was given the President’s medal for gallantry on Republic Day in 2017.

Thirty seven-year-old Bidre-Gore’s husband Raju said this fact clearly shows how Kurundkar, 52, was supported by some senior officers of the Maharashtra police. Bidre-Gore who was posted with the Protection of Civil Rights Unit at Konkan Bhavan in Belapur, went missing on April 11, 2016. The police registered a kidnapping case against Kurundkar on January 31 in 2017.

“In October 2016, we wrote to the Bombay high court saying we suspect Kurundkar’s involvement in Ashwini’s kidnapping. Despite being accused of kidnapping, he was given the President’s medal,” said Raju. He had earlier alleged that Navi Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale was protecting the accused.

“We have written to the President and the Chief Justice of India,” he said. Raju learnt from the police that his wife was killed by the accused on April 11, after which her body was cut into four pieces with a wood-cutter.

“While they dumped the limbs and the head in Bhayander creek, the torso was kept in Kurundkar’s fridge and was dumped the next day,” Raju said. “So far I have not understood how Ashwini was murdered and the motive behind the murder. Even though the police are not revealing it, I am sure Ashwini insisted Kurundkar on marrying her and hence he killed her.”

A video available with HT shows some cops seizing Kurundkar’s fridge in which he allegedly kept some of her body parts. Tushar Doshi, deputy commissioner of police (crime) however, denied this fact.“We are now thinking how to trace her mortal remains,” he said. Raju said the police are taking the help of the Indian Navy and the fire brigade for the search operations. “It will start from Monday. Navy officials will scan the river bed using their cameras.” Officials have been deployed along the Bhayander creek. The Navi Mumbai police however, did not confirm this