Three Lakdawala aides arrested

The accused — Prashant Rao (32),a resident of Kashimira,Dahisar resident Nilesh Jatana (24),and Riyaz Shaikh (43) from Jogeshwari — were arrested from different parts of the city by Unit 3 of the Crime Branch.

The police have recovered four 7.65 mm-bore factory-made pistols and nine live rounds from them. “At around 2.45 pm on October 1,there was firing at the Nirman construction site within the limits of JJ Marg police station in which three rounds were fired and Sohail alias Soni Abdul Majid (33) was injured. Today,we have arrested three members of the Lakdawala gang,who were involved in the firing,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Himanshu Roy.

The police said Lakdawala’s brother Abdul,who is lodged in Thane Jail,met Rao around eight months ago and asked him whether he was willing to work for Lakdawala,who lives in an unknown foreign country.

“After Rao showed his willingness,he received a call from Lakdawala,who sent him Rs 25,000 as goodwill money. A weapon was also delivered to Rao and he received a call with orders to go to Galaxy Building in Sector 17 of Vashi in Navi Mumbai for a shooting. On February 28,Rao and another accused,who has been identified,went to the spot and fired on Prashant Dighe. Their weapon misfired and Dighe escaped unhurt,” said Roy.

“After this attempt,Rao pleaded with Lakdawala for another chance and Rs 20,000 was given to him. On July 26,he went to the house of Iqbal Lakdawala of the Chunawala Builders in D N Nagar and attempted to fire on him. However,he misfired again and no one was injured. Then he was assigned the third target and another Rs 50,000 was transferred to him through hawala. On October 1,Rao and Nilesh opened fire on Soni,” said Roy.

Rao and Jatana knew each other as they were followers of a guru in Dahisar and allegedly smoked charas there,the police said. Shaikh,who was known to Rao’s father,provided logistical support to the other two accused by storing some of the weapons used in the offences and accepting money for the help provided.

“The builder involved in the third case,Nirman,had been receiving extortion calls from Lakdawala from September 9,but did not report this to the police,” added Roy.