The murder of 22-year-old engineering student Bhagyashree Sude was a premeditated offence as her kidnappers had always planned to kill her, and even dug up a pit to dispose of the body, Pune police said on Wednesday.

All three accused were debt-ridden and in need of money, and hence they planned to kidnap Sude and extort money from her parents, a senior police official said.

While the main accused Shivam Fulawale had lost money in the share market and was debt-ridden, the other accused had lost a considerable amount of money in online rummy, as per the investigation.

Sude was allegedly kidnapped by her college friend Fulawale, Suresh Indure and Sagar Jadhav from Viman Nagar area of Pune city on March 30.

Probe found that she died within a few hours of the kidnapping as the accused had taped her mouth and nose, and when she resisted, one of them gagged her, causing her death.

Both Sude and Fulawale hailed from Latur in central Maharashtra and were in the same college, said Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar.

"Fulawale had lost a good amount of money in the share market and another accused, who was addicted to online rummy, had lost some money while playing these games, and they were debt-ridden. As Sude's father is a director of a cooperative body, the accused thought her family was rich and decided to kidnap her for ransom," he said.

They had decided that they would kill her, Kumar said, adding that the accused had, in advance, dug up a pit near Kamargaon on the outskirts of Ahmednagar to dispose of the body.

"They wanted to use her to extort money first, but she died (before that). But even if she had not died on the first day, their intention was pretty clear, to kill her once they successfully extorted money from the family," the commissioner said.

After Sude died, the accused took her body to Kamargaon, set it on fire after pouring petrol, and when the body was half burnt, buried it in the pit they had kept ready.

Afterwards, the trio called her parents using her phone and sought Rs 9 lakh, and asked them to deposit the money into Sude's own bank account as the accused had obtained her debit card and account details.

"On April 2, the family approached police and filed a missing complaint. After the extortion message came on their phone, the crime branch was directed to conduct a parallel investigation along with Vimantal police station," Kumar said.

"Using technical analysis, we started tracing their locations which were changing continuously. They moved to Latur, stayed at a lodge, then moved to Khopoli in Raigad and went to Mumbai. One of them came to Pune again. To trace them, the parents were asked to deposit a small amount in the account as there were chances that the accused would visit an ATM to withdraw the money," he said.

Finally, using technical surveillance, police tracked down the accused on April 7. They confessed to the crime and showed the site where the body was buried, the commissioner said.

After killing Sude, the accused took off the jewellery she was wearing and sold it in Mumbai. "We are in the process of recovering it," said another official.

The accused had used a vehicle hired from a self-drive car agency for the crime, and it has been seized, he said.

Police will seek advice of Advocate Ujjwal Nikam, who has appeared as special prosecutor in several high-profile cases, to ensure speedy trial and maximum punishment, Kumar said.

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