Mumbai: 1993 blast case approver calls police, says nephews forced him to kill BJP leader Ashish Shelar; arrested

Mumbai: A 52-year-old man, in a bid to teach two of his relatives a lesson for refusing to buy him liquor, called up the police control room claiming that he was forced by them to kill BJP leader Ashish Shelar.

After a police team traced his call to Bandra East, he was found in a drunk state.

Manzoor Ahmed Mohammad Qureshi, who has been identified as the caller, was one of the suspects in the 1993 Bombay explosion case.

Transported guns to Sanjay Dutt's house

Together with Abu Salem, he allegedly transported some of the guns to Sanjay Dutt's house. He had, however, become an approver and was freed from prison in 2005, after serving nearly nine years.

Following his release, Qureshi was working as an auto driver. He had no criminal record before or even after the bombings.

On Wednesday at around 9 pm, the control room received a call from Qureshi who told the dispatcher that two men were forcing him to shoot Shelar.

On tracing the call, police found him asleep in a drunk state. He was taken to the police station, where he informed the officers that the two persons he mentioned in the conversation were his nephews.

The police have booked him under section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Published on: Friday, March 03, 2023, 03:54 PM IST