A day after the shocking murder of Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Abhishek Ghosalkar during a ‘Facebook Live’ by a local ‘social activist’ Mauris Noronha, who also ended his own life, Mumbai Crime Branch officers on Friday arrested the assailant’s bodyguard, Amarendra Mishra, whose gun was allegedly used in the incident.
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It is the second arrest in the case. Earlier in the day, the police arrested a man named Mehul Parikh, who was present at the crime scene when the victim was fatally shot.
The arrests took place even as the Opposition parties decried the “lawlessness” in the State, where a week ago, in Thane, an MLA opened fire at a local Shiv Sena leader and one more person inside a police station. Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress leaders demanded the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister and State Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who refuted the Opposition’s allegations and ascribed Ghosalkar’s murder to “personal rivalry”.
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‘Vowed to kill’
The police are still piecing together the events that led Noronha to call former councillor Ghosalkar for a Facebook livestreaming event at his office in Borivali’s IC Colony on Thursday evening and kill him. However, what has emerged from the statements collected from Noronha’s family and friends is that the accused had nursed a long-standing grudge against the former councillor and had vowed to kill him, a senior officer said.
“Mauris had received a notice from the owner regarding his rented office space where the crime occurred. He had defaulted on rent payments for the past six months and had been asked to vacate the premises by March 11,” the officer added.
Mauris had recently returned to Mumbai from abroad and had aspirations to contest in the upcoming civic elections against Ghosalkar, the officer also said.
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Not only did Noronha consider Ghosalkar his political rival, he also believed that the former councillor had implicated him in a rape case, for which the accused spent five months in prison and for which his wife had divorced him. He was out on bail.
Many speculate that the accused’s personal struggles and political ambitions led him to take the extreme step.
The police suspect that Noronha hatched a plan to kill Ghosalkar by offering him a fig leaf in the form of a joint livestreaming event to announce their patch-up on social media.
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A few minutes into the event, which took place on the ground floor of Noronha’s office, he shot Ghosalkar in the abdomen and shoulder and climbed up the first floor of the building, where he took his own life. The former corporator was rushed to Karuna Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.
While Ghosalkar’s cremation took place around 4 p.m. on Friday at Daulat Nagar cemetery, local churches in the area reportedly refused to accept Noronha’s body for burial. Noronha was laid to rest at Haines Road Cemetery in Mahalaxmi around 4 p.m., a senior police officer said.
A sea of people from various religious denominations gathered outside Ghosalkar’s residence to pay tribute, including Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, and other party leaders.
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Taking on the ruling government, Sena (UBT) leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut called for Mr. Fadnavis’s resignation. “Abhishek Ghosalkar was a councillor. The way he was killed is very serious. There is a Gundaraj and a Mafiaraj in Maharashtra with the blessings of the Eknath Shinde government. Where is Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis at such a time?” Mr. Raut said.
War of words
Mr. Aaditya Thackeray, in a post on X, said Maharashtra had never seen such lawlessness before. Likewise, Leader of the Opposition and Congressman Vijay Wadettiwar rued the “worsening law and order situation in the state”.
However, Mr. Fadnavis refuted the Opposition’s allegations of a breakdown in law and order. “I would appeal to everyone not to politicise the incident. The murder was a result of a personal rivalry. To equate it with a breakdown in law and order in Maharashtra is far-fetched,” the Home Minister said.
Speaking in Pune, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar assured that the government would conduct a detailed probe to ascertain the cause of the crime.
(With inputs from Shoumojit Banerjee)
Those in distress may contact Sanjivini, Society for Mental Health suicide prevention helpline 011-40769002