Close friend riding pillion shot motorcyclist, monetary dispute led to deadly plot
Bhayandar : Less than 12-hours after a 27-year-old estate agent was shot at in broad daylight at Rai village near Bhayandar on Monday afternoon, sleuths of the Thane (rural) police claimed to have solved the case.
The assailant turned out to be none other than the victim’s close friend identified as Dipesh Vora (30) who shot Krishna Prakash Gupta alias Ajay (27) while riding behind him on a moving motorcycle.
A resident of Bhayandar (east), Gupta who operated as a small time state agent was heading towards Gorai with his friend Dipesh Vora and 4-year-old son when he reportedly collapsed and fell-off from his bike. Presuming it to be an accident case, local villagers rushed Gupta to the Kasturi Hospital in Bhayandar (west). However, during diagnosis on-duty doctors found a bullet injury on him. After his condition worsened, Gupta was shifted to KEM Hospital in Mumbai where he succumbed to neck injuries at about 3:35 am on Tuesday. On the virtue circumstantial evidence and for his changing statements, the investigating team suspected Vora’s involvement right from the beginning.
“The accused tried to misguide us by cooking up false stories including that assailants opened fire from a passing van. However, the CCTV footages exposed his falsehood. Moreover, discrepancies were detected in all his statements,” said additional superintendent of police Avinash Ambure.
After rounds of sustained interrogation, he finally confessed to the crime which was an apparent fallout of a monetary dispute related to alleged fraudulent transaction by the deceased towards the sale of flats owned by him, police said.
The accused was urgently in need of money for the treatment of his minor daughter who is suffering from cancer. However, Gupta was killing time on one pretext or the other. Vora who was riding pillion pulled out a weapon and shot the victim on his neck at point blank range. As a result, the victim lost control over the bike. While the murder weapon which is believed to be a country-made revolver is yet to be recovered, the police have registered a case under section 302 (murder) of the IPC and under the relevant sections of the Arms Act against Vora who has been remanded to police custody.
Suresh Golani
