PUNE: Dattatreya Phuge, popularly known as ‘the gold man’ from Pimpri was bludgeoned to death on late Thursday night at Bharatmatanagar in Dighi.
He rose to fame for wearing a ‘gold shirt’ weighing about 3.5 kgs and worth about Rs 1.27 crore.

The officer said that Phuge’s wife Seema, former corporator of Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation told the police that on Thursday around 9 pm, a gang of five men abducted Phuge from his house. “Phuge’s body was found around mid-night at Dighi,” the officer said adding, “Phuge was hacked with sharp weapons and later bludgeoned to death with a big stones.”
The investigations also revealed that about 10 days ago Phuge had entered into a brawl with some persons. Phuge was running a chit fund business. He had become the talk of the town after he presented himself in the glittering shirt made out of gold.