Pawanraje Nimbalkar murder case: 8 accused, including Sunetra Pawar’s brother, acquitted

4 min readMumbaiUpdated: Jun 20, 2026 01:44 PM IST

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Omraje Nimbalkar (extreme left), Pawanraje's son, was awaiting the verdict in the case. Omraje is among the six MPs likely to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. (File Photo)

A Mumbai court on Saturday acquitted eight accused, including former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister Padamsinh Patil, in the 2006 murder of Congress politician Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver. Patil, the main accused, is the brother of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar.

Among those awaiting the verdict was Pawanraje’s son, Dharashiv Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Omraje Nimbalkar, who is among the six MPs likely to join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Pawanraje and his driver, Samad Kazi, were shot dead on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on June 3, 2006.

Special Judge S R Navander said it was proven that Patil–now more than 80 years old, he sat in court in a wheelchair–and Pawanraje were political opponents as they had filed various complaints and counter-complaints against each other. It, however, discarded most of the evidence presented by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The special CBI court said that the testimony of accused-turned-approver Parasmal Jain was presented as crucial evidence, but it was doubtful and could not be relied upon, as Jain was in illegal custody for nearly 15 days after being apprehended and was tortured.

The court also discarded two confessional statements given by two of the accused before the magistrate as the required procedure was not followed. It said the CBI had not seized any mobile phones of the accused, nor their call data records to corroborate other evidence.

The court said the approver’s fate will depend on whether the CBI decides to continue proceedings against him.

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Murder on the Expressway

Pawanraje Nimbalkar and his driver, Samad Kazi, were shot dead on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway on June 3, 2006. Pawanraje’s family named Padamsinh Patil as a suspect, claiming the murder took place due to a political rivalry between them.

Two years before the murder, Patil won the then Osmanabad (now Dharashiv) Lok Sabha seat against Pawanraje by a narrow margin of 484 votes. He saw Pawanraje as a threat to his political career and was involved in giving the contract to kill him, the CBI alleged. The central agency also claimed that Pawanraje’s allegations of corruption against Patil, including in the management of the Terna Sugar Cooperative, of which he was a chairman, had angered the NCP leader.

The case was first probed by the Navi Mumbai police. The Nimbalkars approached the Bombay High Court, and in 2008, the case was transferred to the CBI. The probe was also transferred from the Alibaug sessions court to the Mumbai court by the Supreme Court after allegations of influence against Patil.

What the CBI said

In its chargesheet, the central agency had claimed that Patil, with two others, had conspired to kill Pawanraje due to apprehensions that he may affect his political career. A contract to kill was given to one Parasmal Jain, who allegedly arranged three shooters and other logistics, the CBI had claimed. Jain later turned approver.

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The criminal case, which was time-bound by the Supreme Court, involved 127 witnesses, 29 of whom turned hostile. Among the witnesses were Omraje and his mother, Anandibai, who deposed in 2016 on the threats received by Pawanraje and how he was denied police protection.

Activist Anna Hazare also deposed in 2019 and told the court that he had learnt through the media that the alleged shooters who killed Pawanraje were also given a contract to murder him.

The CBI relied on Jain’s testimony, detailing the roles played by each of the accused from conspiracy to planning of logistics, procurement of weapons, tracking of Pawanraje’s movements, along with other documentary and technical evidence, including ballistics tests on the weapons.

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