UK angle emerges in probe into murder of Nagpur woman by hotel owner

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Police investigating the murder of a 25-year-old Nagpur woman allegedly by a hotel owner have come across a UK link, an official said on Thursday.

Nagpur resident Mahesh Keshavrao Wadaskar (57), who owns a hotel in Ramtek town, about 50 km from here, was recently arrested for poisoning Priya Bagde to death and burying her body last month.

Wadaskar and Bagde were in a relationship but she had allegedly been blackmailing him after he made her undergo an abortion last year, police had said earlier.

Police said Wadaskar was upset after Bagde befriended a 70-year-old UK resident, John Gluck, on Facebook and married him virtually. She also changed her name to Priya Gluck, said the official from Mankapur police station here.

The official said the septuagenarian from the UK, who is retired and lives alone, was sending Bagde Rs 20,000 every month.

When the woman went to meet Wadaskar at his Turning Point hotel in Ramtek on August 16, he poisoned her to death and buried the body at an isolated place.

Police zeroed in on Wadaskar with the help of various inputs, including Bagde’s last mobile phone location.

He has been remanded in police custody, the official said, adding that further investigations are underway.