Kiran Shinde, one of the accused who turned approver, described how he along with the Anjanabai Gavit and her two daughters, Renuka and Seema, abducted and murdered three children, all aged under two-and-a-half.

During his examination by government pleader, Ujjwal Nikam, Anjanabai's son-in-law Shinde disclosed the ghastly details. Shinde said that during the 1994 Ganpati festival, the group had rented three rooms from one Khopade in Gondhalinagar, Pune. A few days later, Anjanabai, Renuka and Seema went to Nashik for the purpose of theft.

They returned to Pune about eight days later with a two-year-old girl they had kidnapped near a temple in Nashik. They named her Pinky. After a few days, all the accused left for Jejuri with Pinky along with their ownchildren and committed five to six thefts there.

However, Shinde went on, Pinky cried incessantly, prompting the exasperated gang to decide to kill her. They returned to Pune and killed Pinky in their room in November 1994.

Pinky's naked body was kept in a bag later dropped in a thicket, Shinde said. In March 1995, the accused kidnapped a two-and-a-half-year-old boy from the ST bus stand in Kolhapur when the woman he was with was busy with her purchases, Shinde said, adding the team returned to Pune with the boy.

They named the boy Raju. The story repeated itself all over again: Raju's unending whimpers got to Seema who dropped him on the floor, killing him instantly.

The gang then hired a jeep and took the body to Khandala and dropped it off along the way.

Later, Anjanabai, Renuka and Seema went back to Kolhapur, apparently to abduct more children and pick some pockets, Shinde went on. They returned the next day with a one-and-a-half-year-old girl. She was abducted from a Mahalaxmi temple,Kolhapur, he said.

They named her Shradha and used her to commit thefts, going as far as Surat, Vadodara and Ahmedabad for the purpose.

Shradha was also killed later by the three accused, he confessed.

He identified Seema's handwriting, which had been registered in Parimal Lodge, Nashik, where the accused stayed before kidnapping Pinky, Kolhapur's dharmashala

, where they stayed during Shradha's kidnapping, and Sai Lodge, Surat. He also identified Shradha's photograph.

Shinde had earlier confessed to three other murders. He said that in July 1993, they shifted their residence with a kidnapped girl, Meena. However, he said, the child kept insisting on going to school with Shinde and Renuka's children. This spurred the couple to beat up Meena, even fracturing her hand in the process.

Then, one day, when no one else was in the house, the landlord heard Meena crying in a locked room and informed the police, Shinde said.

The police entered the premises and broke the lock to release Meena. Theyalso seized a quantity of stolen gold ornaments and arrested Anjanabai, Seema and Renuka.