Kurar Police arrested five men who played key roles in orchestrating a firing at Kurar Village, Mumbai on February 1 at two different locations in an extortion bid. Police said, the firing was ordered by arrested gangster Uday Pathak, to establish supremacy and spread terror in the area.
Apparently, Pathak had penned down the extortion notes and then passed it onto his gang members. While police are yet to arrest the main shooter, the arrested accused are said to be the ones who decided the target and did the recce. Police have booked them under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
According to police sources, the five-gang member identified as Nikhil Rokade (30), Vikas Pandey alias Pillu (23), Jeetu Garasiya alias Chitlya (30), Suraj Sagre (28) and Praveen Baviskar alias Parry (22), who were locals and associated with dreaded mobster Pathak. Dr D S Swami, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 12) said, the arrested five people had planned and conspired the firing, following Pathak’s orders and obtained a country-made weapon.
“While two of the arrested people-- Rokade and Sagre have past criminal records of outraging a woman’s modesty and causing hurt by dangerous weapons respectively, the other three have non-cognisable complaints registered against them,” said DCP Swami.
On February 1, a masked man had fired at two spots in Kurar village, Malad (E) after which a chit was found at each spot, demanding an extortion amount of ₹1 crore, failing which, there would be consequences. The first incident of firing was reported at 1.30pm where a bike-borne shooter fired a round at Anand Medical and Book Centre at Bhim Nagar in Kurar and around ten minutes later, a similar instance was reported from Shivaji Nagar area where a shooter fired two to three rounds at Rokadia Traders, an imitation jewellery shop.
The crime branch officials began a parallel probe with local police and immediately scrutinised the CCTV camera footage, following which they had detained three accused, based on technical evidence and eye witnesses. During their questioning, police found leads on their accomplices and arrested them from Parel and Nalasopara on Tuesday evening. “The five gang members were promised Rs 10,000 each for the job and had checked the weapon by firing it at hilly areas in Malad (E). While the shooter just fired rounds in the air, it was these men who conducted recce, selected and vetted targets, slipped on the chits in the crowded areas to spread terror,” DCP Swami said.
Kurar Police are on the lookout for the shooter and are yet to recover the country-made weapon used for the firing. Meanwhile, police have also identified other accused in the case and are likely to make the arrests soon.
In a similar attempt in 2015, a man from Pathak’s gang had fired a round on Karkeshwar Singh, an autorickshaw driver, who is also the brother of a contractor in an extortion bid. The accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code for attempt to murder (section 307), extortion (section 387) and criminal conspiracy (section 120B).
