Fugitive gangster Nilesh Ghaywal’s aide, wanted in MCOCA case, arrested with marijuana

Police said Shaikh is an old member of Ghaywal’s gang. He was wanted in connection with the recent offence lodged against Ghaywal gang members at the Kothrud police station under sections of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Acting on a tip-off to policeman Amol Ghawate, a crime branch team led by inspector Wahid Pathan laid a trap and nabbed Shaikh in Narhe area around 3.10am on Wednesday. Police also recovered the contraband from him.

During further investigation, police arrested a history sheeter Tejas Punamchand Dangi of Narhe, for allegedly supplying the marijuana to Shaikh.

A separate case was lodged against the two accused at the Sinhagad road police station as per relevant sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Additional Commissioner of Police (crime) Pankaj Deshmukh said Shaikh is a criminal on police record having four crimes against his name, including the MCOCA case against the Nilesh Ghaywal gang in 2021. Besides, Dangi was booked in two NDPS cases registered at the Hinjewadi police station in the past.

Last month, on the night of September 17, members of the Ghaywal gang allegedly opened fire at a man and attacked a student with sharp weapons in the Kothrud area, following a road rage incident.

Based on the complaints filed by the two victims, two separate FIRs were registered against the assailants. The police had further invoked MCOCA against Ghaywal and his gang members, including Musab Shaikh, booked in the two cases.

While some members of his gang were arrested, Ghaywal managed to evade the investigators and travelled abroad last month. Booked in serious offences such as murder, attempt to murder, extortions, Ghaywal is now suspected to have travelled to London and Switzerland.

A separate FIR was lodged against Ghaywal at the Kothrud police station as a probe revealed that he had procured the passport illegally. Police said Ghaywal had applied for a tatkal passport at the regional passport office in Pune in 2019. In his passport application, he mentioned he was a resident of “Gauri Ghumat, Anandi Bazar, Maliwada Road, Ahmednagar (now renamed Ahilyanagar)”.

He was not found at this address, so the then Ahilyanagar superintendent of police made a “not available” remark on his application and forwarded it to the regional passport office in Pune on January 16, 2020. Police said he had submitted a false affidavit stating there are no offences against him, for seeking the passport.

While granting him bail in 2022, a court had directed Ghaywal to surrender his passport. But he did not surrender the passport. Police too failed to take action against him for not following the court’s directions.

Investigation into the recent cases against Ghaywal gang were transferred to the crime branch last week.

Earlier this week, the police registered a fresh case against Ghaywal, under the Telecommunications Act, for fraudulently procuring a SIM card using the identity of another person and then using that SIM card for financial transactions.

Additional Commissioner of Police Pankaj Deshmukh said process for cancellation of his passport has been initiated and a blue corner notice has been issued against him through the Interpol for the purpose of his extradition.

Deshmukh said a search was also on for Ghaywal’s brother Sachin, after the siblings were recently booked in a case of property grabbing and extortion, filed by a Pune-based businessman.