The police claimed that sub-inspector P D Yadav gunned down Tukaram Shlke after mistaking him for a dacoit but the victim's family members alleged that it was a case of contract killing.

The sub-inspector has been suspended and charged with murder. He had not been arrested till late this evening. The situation in Yevat village, where stray incidents of violence continued the entire day, was tense but Ashok Dhivre, Superintendent of Police, Pune Rural, who is camping here, said the police were well in control with reinforcements being rushed in from Pune and Daund.

It all began around 6 am when Tukaram Waman Shelke, a 35-year-old farmer from Shelke Vasti near Yevat, was shot dead by the officer from Yevat police station.

SP Dhivre said sub-inspector Yadav shot Tukaram,mistaking him for one of the dacoits who had attacked and looted two commuters at the nearby Bori Aindi village the previous night. "A few minutes after the incident, sub-inspector Yadav alerted me and I rushed to Yevat. But by then the mob had already ransacked the police station," he said.

But Tukaram's brother Dnyanoba lodged a complaint with the Yevat police claiming that it was a case of contract killing.

MLA Subhash Kul, who led the protestors, alleged that workers of a political party had let out a contract on Tukaram's life because he had switched political affiliations recently.