3 min readPuneUpdated: Apr 22, 2026 05:42 PM IST
The investigation into the suspected suicide of a flautist from Indore, found dead at a cultural institute in Mulshi near Pune, has revealed that she was allegedly extorted and blackmailed by fraudsters posing as practitioners of “black magic” rituals.
The deceased, Renuka Harshwardhan Likhite, 25, was a second-year student of the Master of Arts programme in Music (Flute) at a spiritual and cultural education institute in Kolwan, Mulshi taluka, Pune district. She was found dead in her hostel room on April 6.
The Pune Rural police said she had contacted the fraudsters through an Instagram advertisement. A case of abetment to suicide has been registered, along with provisions of Maharashtra’s anti-superstition law.
The Pune Rural police initially registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR), the preliminary procedure for investigating unnatural deaths, including suicide, accident, or suspicious death under other circumstances, at the Paud Police Station. During the inquiry, investigators found that Likhite had been in contact with several individuals and had made multiple payments in the days leading up to her death.
An officer from the Pune Rural police said they took the help of forensic experts to unlock her phone.
“The investigation of her communications revealed that she had come in contact with some persons through an Instagram advertisement. These suspects promised solutions to various problems and claimed to perform superstitious practices. The suspects who were in contact with the deceased claimed they were performing black magic rituals for her at the cremation ground,” said an officer from the Pune Rural police.
“By creating fear and psychological pressure on her, these fraudsters sought money from her on multiple occasions and took Rs 74,400 from her. After the money from her bank account was exhausted, they demanded more for further rituals and threatened that harm would come to her and her parents if she did not pay. Through such blackmail and mental harassment, they drove her to take the extreme step. We are in the process of establishing the identities of these suspects and probing whether they had targeted any more people,” the officer added.
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The police have invoked Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita sections 108 (abetment of suicide), 318(4) (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 308 (extortion), 352 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), provisions of the The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013 along with Information Technology Act.
The case came to light after Likhite failed to respond to family calls for two days and did not attend classes and other activities at the institute. Her family informed their relatives from Pune, who came to the institute campus on April 6. Her relatives and the institute authorities found her dead in her room.
The police said initial post-mortem findings are consistent with suicide.
Likhite came from a family of musicians in Indore and had performed with several senior artists, including Hariprasad Chaurasia.
