While going to Nandgaon for a tehsildar meeting he spotted a few trucks parked in a very suspicious manner near a road side eatery where the depots of IOC, HPCL and BPCL were located.
Sometime later a man named Popat Shinde, who had a reputation of running an oil, petrol and diesel smuggling racket, along with his men attacked the officer, beat him up and then set him on fire.
"[This quote needs a citation] On 27 January 2011, two days after Sonawane was burnt alive, authorities in Maharashtra carried out raids at nearly 200 places, arresting around 180 people in an attempt to crack down on the oil adulteration mafia.
[2] Oil Minister S. Jaipal Reddy told a news conference in New Delhi on 28 January 2011: "We learnt with shock about the heinous killing of Additional Collector Yashwant Sonawane....
[3] Meanwhile, Popat Shinde the prime accused, died of a cardiac arrest caused due to sepsis on 31 January 2011 at JJ Hospital in the city.