Business rivalry led to contract killing of Latur coaching centre’s director: police

On Monday, his relatives refused to accept his body till the suspects were arrested. On Tuesday, police announced the arrests of “main suspect” Chandankumar Sharma, a mechanical engineering graduate who runs Kumar’s Maths Classes, and four others who he allegedly paid Rs 20 lakh to “eliminate” Chavan.

Police identified the others arrested as Maheshchandra Gogde, Sharad Ghume, Karan Singh Gahirwar and Akshay Shendge.

Giving details, a police officer said: “Sharma contacted Gogde and expressed his desire to eliminate Chavan. Gogde contacted Ghume who had a criminal background and who hired Gahirwar to execute the killing. Gahirwar rode pillion on Shendge’s bike and shot Chavan dead.”

Gahirwar had studied the route that Chavan usually took to reach home, said the officer, adding that the pistol used in the murder has been recovered.

DySP Himmat Jadhav said, “The main suspect and four others, who were part of the murder conspiracy, have been arrested. Sharma used to be Chavan’s partner before the two split over a financial dispute. Since then, Sharma had been running his own Mathematics coaching class. We have reasons to believe that the murder was a fallout of professional rivalry between the two coaching classes.”

An officer linked to the case said: “Chavan and Sharma started their coaching class a few years ago. After the split, Chavan’s business grew due to aggressive marketing, lower fees and competent teaching staff while Sharma’s class remained comparatively smaller.”

Citing preliminary findings, the officer said: “Chavan had no experience in teaching but had employed several qualified teachers. He gave away rewards totalling Rs 1 crore to students who excelled every year. He used to issue full-page advertisements to local newspapers for two weeks at a stretch during the admission season. He had even started a gym recently in Latur and was all set to launch a branch of his coaching class in neighbouring Nanded.”

Chavan is survived by his father, who is a retired policeman, mother, wife and two children, said police. Police said that Sharma was one of the first to offer condolences to the family members of Chavan, and was with the victim’s father at the hospital during the autopsy.

Latur is the home of a booming coaching class industry estimated to have an annual turnover of crores of rupees. “In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the city achieved fame with what was known as the ‘Latur Pattern’ for exams. Along with colleges, the business of coaching classes also started thriving. That was when owners of coaching classes started trying various methods to lure students,” said an officer.