A woman software engineer was killed in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore after she was run over by an 18-year-old boy in a car inside a residential society over a dispute about the use of a house for rental purposes, police said on Thursday (March 26, 2026).
According to the police, the incident took place at around 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday (March 25, 2026) at Shiv Vatika Township under Lasudia police station area following an argument between Kuldeep Chaudhary, the owner of the house, and some residents, after which his son, Mohnish Chaudhary attacked them and bystanders with his car.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Vijay Nagar, Parag Saini told The Hindu that both accused were arrested late on Wednesday night and booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 103(1) [Punishment for murder] and 109(1) [attempt to murder].
The deceased has been identified as Shampa Pathak, 42, who works at a private IT company and had shifted to the society about 15 days ago, while another woman, Raanu Rawat, wife of a security guard at the society, suffered injuries in the incident when she was out for a walk. Ms. Pandey is survived by her husband and who children.
Mr. Saini said that Mr. Kuldeep Chaudhary owns a penthouse in the society which was listed on AirBNB for rental purposes but the other residents had objected to it.
“The accused does not live there himself but on Wednesday when he came to the society, he learned that electricity to his property had been cut off. In retaliation, he cut off the power to the entire building which lead to altercations with the other residents,” he said.
“During the arguments, he called his son saying ‘let’s deal with them today’. After which the boy came in his car and attacked those who had gathered outside the building,” Mr. Saini said, adding that the boy made two speeding laps of the building before breaking the gate and escaping.
A CCTV footage of the incident has surfaced on the internet showing a white car charging on the crowd. While Ms. Rawat was hit by the car in the first lap, the car returned in speed running over Ms. Pandey even as residents tried to flee.
Mr. Saini said that Ms. Pandey was taken to Bombay Hospital immediately but succumbed to her injuries.
He said that Mr. Mohnish Chaudhary had just turned 18 on March 20 and was preparing for competitive exams after finishing school. His father works as a senior electrical engineer in a private firm, the ACP added.
“The father and son did not try to flee very far and were nabbed from the township premises in a couple of hours. They still have a very aggressive mindset during questioning and the father seems to have encouraged such mindset in his young son. He is still defending his actions,” Mr. Saini said.
Ms. Pandey’s husband, Saurabh Pandey said that they were not even part of the dispute initially and had only gone downstairs after out power was cut off.
“When I questioned him [Mr. Kuldeep Chaudhary] about this, he agreed to have cut off our power. This led to some arguments and he abusing all of us. Then he called his son who also started abusing everyone,” he said.
“When we talked about calling the police and society management, the boy left from there and drove his car at around 60-70 km/h across the campus. First he hit our househelp and some other people. Then he made another round and hit my wife when she was leaving,” Mr. Pandey said, adding that his wife passed away due to suffering a brain haemorrhage.
He said that society residents had raised the issue of running commercial operations at the penthouse earlier and has even given a complaint to the local municipal councillor and police.
Published – March 27, 2026 01:03 am IST
