Mumbai: The Mumbai police on Monday claimed to have cracked the case of firing outside Bollywood producer Karim Morani’s bungalow in Juhu with the arrest of seven people who were allegedly planning to eliminate another well-known Bollywood producer and director in Khar.
The shooters have so far been paid Rs 11 lakh through hawala channels and were expected to get more money.
The arrested accused are suspected to be working for fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari. According to sources, Pujari planned the shootout in Khar to instill a sense of fear among the Bollywood fraternity and to let them know about his activities.
The arrest of the seven people took place on Saturday at 9 pm after the officers of the Anti-Motor Vehicle Theft cell of Crime Branch received a tip-off. The seven people were allegedly planning to kill the producer or his brother, or his son, or all three, early in the morning on November 16. The producer has his office in Khar West.
“Investigations revealed that out of these seven accused, three were also involved in the Morani case. Six more people were arrested by the evening of November 17 out of which three were involved in the foiled shootout in Khar and three were connected with Morani’s case,” said Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Sadanand Date.
This has taken the total number of accused to six in the Morani case, and seven in the Khar case. According to sources, three more people have been identified in connection with the Morani case and will be arrested soon.
Date said that the arrested accused were from the economically weaker sections of the society and hail from Mumbra. They belong to the 21-45 year age group. While most of them are illiterate, one of them is supposed to be an engineering diploma student.
Of the arrested members, three were convicted for possessing firearms in Uttar Pradesh previously. Of these, one was also convicted for furnishing fake documents for his bail in connection with the same case. One of the shooters is also an accused in a case of attempt to murder.
“The penetration of an informant into the gang has helped us investigate the case better. We have also found out that one of the accused responsible for the recce had even befriended Morani’s bungalow’s watchman and tried to get a job there to gain access to the bungalow and be present during the shootout,” said Date.
The police are also going to investigate the role of Bittu Singh, the event manager from US, whose name had cropped up in connection with the shootout at Morani’s bungalow on August 23, 2014.
