Pune: Renowned jeweler Milind alias Balwant Arvind Marathe (60), a resident of Shivajinagar and owner of Marathe jewellers shop on Laxmi Road, succumbed to injuries on Sunday (December 27), ten days after he shot himself in a bid to end his life. Marathe was reportedly under severe financial stress for the last few years and suffered a major blow in his business during the lockdown.
Marathe had shot himself on December 16 at about 8pm while he was at his office attached to his jewelry shop on the Laxmi Road. Marathe had a license and a gun with which he had fired one bullet on himself. He then called his wife and told her about the incident. The shop had closed at around 7.30 pm when the incident happened. Marathe’s wife had then called their son Pranav (36) who rushed to the shop. Pranav had alerted the policemen posted at Narayan Peth chowky.
A team of policemen also rushed to the spot after they received information about the incident. They recovered the licensed pistol and an empty cartridge from the spot.
Marathe was immediately shifted to a private hospital for treatment. He was under medical supervision for the last ten days. Marathe’s heart stopped functioning after which he succumbed to the injuries on Sunday (December 27) morning at around 3.30 am.
Senior Police Inspector Vijay Tikole of Vishrambaug police station told mediapersons that a case of accidental death has been registered in this regard. Statements of Marathe family members have also been recorded by the police.
Marathe’s relative Akshay Gadgil told media persons that this news has come as shock to them. “Last rites were performed on him on Sunday afternoon. It is very painful experience for us as a senior family member has left us in the midst,” he said.
Marathe was under the scanner of the Income Tax department after the 2016 demonetisation drive. IT department sleuths had raided his two showrooms on December 14, 2016 after it was noticed that Marathe Jewellers had deposited Rs 60 crore in four different bank accounts a day after the central government’s announcement of delegitimising the currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations.
IT department had claimed that Marathe Jeweller showed sales of Rs 60 crore between last week of October 2016 and first week of November 2016 while the previous years approximate sale was about Rs 70 crore. IT department had also recovered bills of Rs 45 crore that did not have any PAN card details or names of the customers.
Marathe however had denied any discrepancies in the sale and accounts stating that the amount under scanner by IT department was accounted money from the Diwali sale.