The Pimpri Chinchwad police on Thursday arrested three loan recovery agents in connection with the offence lodged against Vaishnavi Hagawane’s, husband, and mother-in-law, for allegedly cheating and threatening a farmer at gunpoint. (File Photo)The Pimpri Chinchwad police on Thursday arrested three loan recovery agents in connection with the offence lodged against Vaishnavi Hagawane’s husband, Shashank, and mother-in-law, Lata, for allegedly cheating and threatening a farmer at gunpoint.The Hagawane family hit the headlines last month after Vaishnavi, the daughter-in-law of expelled Nationalist Congress Party leader Rajendra Hagawane, allegedly died by suicide following harassment over dowry.Shashank and Lata were arrested after Prashant Yelwande, a farmer from Nigoje village in Khed taluka of Pune district, lodged a First Information Report at the Mahalunge MIDC police station in Pimpri Chinchwad on May 29. The duo were remanded to police custody till June 6 for further investigation.The police identified the accused arrested on Thursday as Yogesh Rajendra Raskar, 25, Ganesh Potle, 30, and Vaibhav Pingle, 27, of Talegaon Dhamdhere.According to the police, Yelwande had purchased a JCB from Shashank and Lata for Rs 24 lakh in March 2022. There was a bank loan of about Rs 19 lakh on the said machine, and Yelwande paid Rs 5 lakh and took possession of it, the police added. It was allegedly decided that he should further pay Rs 50,000 per month to the Hagawanes for repaying the loan.The police said Yelwande paid Rs 6.7 lakh to Shashank and Lata, but they did not deposit the money in the bank for loan repayment.Shivaji Pawar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Pimpri Chinchwad, said that the legal manager of the bank had not given any instructions to the recovery agency for taking away the JCB from Yelwande. “But still, the accused Raskar, Potle and Pingle, working for the private recovery agency, illegally took the JCB from Yelwande and gave it to Shashank Hagawane around August 2024. So we have placed the three persons under arrest,” he added.Story continues below this adAccording to the police, after the JCB was taken away from him, Yelwande demanded his money, around Rs 11.7 lakh, from the Hagawane family. But Shashank allegedly threatened him at gunpoint.The police had earlier arrested Shashank, Lata and others from the Hagawane family for the alleged dowry death of his wife Vaishnavi at their residence in Bhukum. Vaishnavi’s father Anil Kaspate had lodged an FIR in this case at the Bavdhan police station in Pimpri Chinchwad on May 17, alleging that Vaishnavi’s in-laws had been abusing her, mentally and physically, demanding Rs 2 crore to purchase a property. Kaspate also said in the FIR that there were injury marks on Vaishnavi’s body, alleging that this suggested physical abuse, adding that he feared that his daughter had been murdered.Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:dowry death casepune