The Thane crime branch unit 7 arrested a notorious gangster Amit Bhogale in connection to the murder of a 24-year-old man who was killed in the Bhandup area last month.

The accused was found in possession of a sword, a blade, two country-made pistols with live cartridges and a car with two mobile phones, valued at ₹43 lakh.

Police said Bhogale, a member of gangster Kumar Pillai, was one of the eight members of the group who killed Suraj Mehara alias Suraj Nepali (24), a resident of Bhandup.

Bhogale also has cases of extortion lodged against him. Mehara, a hotelier, was a history-sheeter and had assault cases registered against him.

Sources claimed that Mehara and Bhogale had been engulfed in heated arguments a couple of months ago over prominence in the area, wherein they issued death threats to each other.

The accused had allegedly asked his people to eliminate Mehara and subsequently, on October 3, around 2 am, a group of six to seven people with weapons had attacked him in Tembipada, Bhandup. Mehara was also stabbed in the chest and abdomen which led to his death.

A case of murder was registered and nine arrests were made, including Sachin Kulkarni, Piyush Naik, Sushil Sawant and Umesh Kadam and Rahul Jadhav in October month.

While Bhogale's name had come up during the probe, it was later revealed that he was the mastermind.

Bhogale's arrest is the tenth accused in the case. He was produced before a local magistrate court and remanded in police custody till December 4.

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