A tiff with a relative over a petty amount resulted in a gangster spilling the beans on his criminal network to the Narpoli police in Bhiwandi. With the gangster’s arrest, the police have claimed to have solved one murder case and averted possible incidents of extortion.
According to the Narpoli police, Arjun Sarkar (32), a resident of Bhiwandi, was shot at by his brother-in-law Dulal Mandal (29) near the Kasheli Pipeline in Bhiwandi on December 6. He was taken to Lotus Hospital in Thane and later shifted to Sion Hospital, where the Narpoli police recorded his statement.
Fight over ₹10,000
Suresh Jadhav, senior police inspector, Narpoli police station, said, “Mr. Sarkar, in his statement, identified Mr. Mandal as the assailant. Mr. Mandal had recently sold an autorickshaw at his native place in West Bengal and Mr. Sarkar had sought ₹10,000 from the proceeds of the sale. Fed up with Mr. Sarkar’s constant demands, Mr. Mandal fired at him using a country-made pistol.”
The police arrested Mr. Mandal and recovered the pistol and 10 live rounds from him. The police then arrested Jaysingh Thakur (34), as Mr. Mandal named him as the source of the gun and bullets. The police recovered another pistol and 10 live rounds from Mr. Thakur.
Satyanarayan Choudhary, additional commissioner of police (West region), said, “During interrogation, the accused confessed that they had hired a Maruti Ertiga on November 23 and told the driver they had to travel from Thane to Nashik. When they reached Kasara, they told the driver that their plan had changed and that they needed to go back to Thane. As soon as the driver turned around, they made him stop at a secluded spot at gunpoint, asked him to get out of the car and shot him in the head. Leaving his body there, they drove back to Thane and changed the number plate of the car.”
The police verified the information with the Shahpur police, in whose jurisdiction crime took place. They confirmed that an FIR against unknown persons had been registered for murder.
The Narpoli police also confirmed with the Badlapur police, in whose jurisdiction the driver Arvind Dikshit (34) stayed, that a missing person’s report had been registered in his name on November 24.
Extortion plan foiled
Officers said that inquiries with the accused established that they were planning to extort builders working in the Thane district, and had also drawn up a list of names of builders. The plan was to make extortion calls and also fire gunshots at their construction sites in order to scare them into submission, the police said.
Based on Mr. Mandal and Mr. Thakur’s interrogation, the police went on to arrest Hiraman Gangawasi (40), Pramod Nuner (30), Rajesh Karotiya (30) and Prabhakar singh (22), and also recovered two more pistols and 20 live rounds from them.
The police are now interrogating the accused further to find more information about their criminal activities and are also in touch with other police commissionerates, the officers said.
