The Mumbai Police Crime Branch arrested four persons in connection with the shootout at the office of a Chunabhatti-based builder earlier this month.
The police seized four handguns and 18 live rounds of ammunition from the accused, who allegedly targeted the builder because he refused to give them the a sub-contract for his upcoming project in Sion.
On February 5 this year, two men clad in burqas had barged into the office of Arihant builders in Chunabhatti and shot at Jinesh Jain, the son of the firm’s owner, who is also a partner in the firm.
He sustained two bullet injuries, in his back and shoulder, and was rushed to the Sion Hospital, where he is still being treated. He is reported to be out of danger.
The police said that while CCTV cameras in the office had captured the crime, the footage was not helpful in identifying the assailants. The Chunabhatti police, as well as the Crime Branch started making inquiries into the firm’s business transactions to look for a possible motive behind the attack.
“While making inquiries, we learned that a person named Sumit Yerunkar (38) had approached Mr Jain’s father in early 2015 and asked for the sub-contract for his upcoming 19-storey building in Sion,” said a Crime Branch officer. “When we made further inquiries about Yerunkar, we learned two things that pointed the needle of suspicion at him. Firstly, we found out that he is a history-sheeter with his crime record stretching back to 2001. Secondly, he was out on temporary bail secured from the Bombay High Court since December last year, but had been missing since the day of the offence.”
The Crime Branch then formed a joint team of officials from the Anti-Extortion Cell, and the Anti-Robbery Dacoity Cell to work on the information. After making inquiries among his associates and family members, the cops tracked the suspect down after receiving a tip off. He was coming to Kalyan along with some of his associates as he had met with an accident while on the run and needed money.
Yerunkar and his three accomplices, identified as Ajay Karosi, Vinod Vishwakarma and Babu Kumar Gupta, were picked up from near the Kalyan railway station on Monday night. After questioning, they confirmed their involvement in the crime, were placed under arrest.
The police said that Karosi and Vishwakarma executed the attack while Gupta provided two vehicles to be used in the crime.
“The main accused held a grudge against the victim, as he had agreed to give him the contract but backed out later. He came out of jail on temporary bail for his wife’s pregnancy. Yerunkar then plotted the crime and hired the other accused. They rented a room in the same building as the builder’s office and kept a watch on him. They tried to strike on February 3 and February 4, but decided against it as there were too many people in the office at the time. After the attack, they fled in two vehicles waiting for them outside, and had been on the run since then,” said JCP (Crime) Atulchandra Kulkarni.
The police have seized two country made pistols and five rounds of ammunition, a 9mm pistol with seven rounds and a 7.65mm pistol with six rounds from the accused. They are now being interrogated about the source of the weapons as well as other aspects of the crime.
