Three more persons have been arrested in the gangster Sharad Mohol murder case, police said on Wednesday.
Ganesh Marne, a key accused in the case, and his two aides were arrested from Nashik Road by a Pune crime branch team in a dramatic chase, police said.
The trio was on the run after crime branch officials started searching for them in the murder case of gangster Sharad Mohol.
Marne, a dreaded gangster of Karve Nagar, is known to be a rival of Sharad Mohol.
Mohol was shot dead on his wedding anniversary by a group of men, including his associate Sahil alias Munna Polekar, in a lane near his house in Sutardara, Kothrud on January 5. Hailing from a farmer's family, he was earlier the driver of his elder brother and gangster Sandip Mohol, who was shot in 2006 by a rival mafia gang. Later, Mohol took over the gang and avenged his brother's murder by killing gangster Kishore Marne, who was among the suspects in Sandip Mohol's shootout.
15 more arrests so far
So far, more than 15 people including alleged main shooter Sahil alias Munna Polekar have been arrested.
On the same day as Mohol’s murder, the police arrested Polekar, 20, Namdev Mahipati Kangude, 34, Vitthal Kisan Gandle, 20, from Sutardara, Amit Maruti Kangude, 24, Chandrakant Shelke, 22, of Parvati, Vinayak Gavhankar, 20, of Paud Road and two lawyers Ravindra Pawar, 40, of Nande in Mulshi and Sanjay Udhan, 43, of Kothrud.
The investigation further disclosed that the suspect Polekar and his uncle Namdev Kamgude were engaged in a financial and land-related dispute with Mohol. Polekar, as part of the conspiracy to murder him, initially began working for Mohol.
They were arrested while they were travelling in two cars near Shirwal on the Pune-Satara highway. During searches, the police recovered three country-made pistols, three magazines, five live cartridges and eight cell phones from their possession.
The financial dispute was the main reason behind the attack on Mohol, police had said earlier.
Meanwhile, the Pune city police have invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the alleged prime accused Vitthal Mahadev Shelar and his ‘aides’, including two lawyers, arrested in connection with the murder of gangster Sharad Mohol.
