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The Pimpri Chinchwad police have foiled a murder plot while probing an Instagram post in which a minor boy was seen posing with two pistols in his hands.
Police have so far detained six minors in this case, who were allegedly planning to a murder a man with whom they had a previous dispute. Also, police have recovered two country made pistols along with two live cartridges from the minors.
A probe has revealed that the teenager accused had procured the illegal firearms from a weapons dealer in Madhya Pradesh.
A press release issued on Thursday by deputy commissioner of police (crime) Shivaji Pawar stated that assistant sub inspector Ramesh Gaikwad and police havaldar Ganesh Girigosavi came across an Instagram account “adyaa” while checking suspicious social media profiles.
Police said the live story on the account displayed a photograph of a minor boy holding two guns in his hands. During further investigation, a police team led by sub inspector Sunil Bhadane nabbed the boy near the Rajiv Gandhi Bridge in Aundh on November 4.
His interrogation revealed that the pistols seen on Instagram belonged to two of his friends from the Sangvi area.
The police team then nabbed the two minors from Sangvi and recovered two pistols and two cartridges, worth Rs 1.01 lakh. The minor accused also revealed the names of their three accomplices. In a quick time, cops nabbed three more boys, who too were found to be minors, on the same day.
As per the press release, interrogation of the six minor boys revealed that the firearms were procured from a weapon dealer Guru Singh (23) from the Umarti village in Madhya Pradesh (MP).
Police said a 19 year old Aryan Fand and two others got two pistols and cartridges by paying about Rs 50,000 to the illegal firearms dealer in Madhya Pradesh (MP).
The press release stated that the teenager accused wanted to kill one Ravi Sasane of Wagholi.
Police sub inspector Sunil Bhadane said, “The accused minors had a dispute with Sasane over operating Anda Bhurji stalls at a same location in Aundh area. Probe revealed that due to this dispute, the accused boys hatched a conspiracy to kill Sasane. For this purpose, they purchased the firearms from a weapons dealer in MP.”
“All minors had clicked their photographs with the pistols. But one of them posted his photograph on Instagram. We nabbed him along with his six minor accomplices on the same day and seized the pistols, due to which a murder bid was averted,” said Bhadane.
A first information report (FIR) was lodged against the six minors along with Fand and Guru Singh at the Sangvi police station in Pimpri Chinchwad, under sections 61 (2), 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and sections of the Indian Arms Act.
Police said search was on for wanted accused Fand and Guru Singh. All six minors nabbed in this case were sent to an observation home as per the legal procedure, police said.
According to the police, accused Fand and five minor accused have previous criminal records, with some of them even booked in serious offences such as attempt to murder and armed robberies in the past.
Previous incidents of minors with guns
In the last month too, the Pimpri Chinchwad police had nabbed seven minor boys along with an adult teenager and had recovered six pistols and six live cartridges from them.
Acting on a tip-off to police havaldar Ashok Dagale and constable Dattaji Kavthekar, a team of Pimpri police station had detained four minor boys from the public road near the Pimpri Dairy farm on October 19.
During searches, the police recovered a country made pistol and a live cartridge from each of the four boys. Probe had revealed that these minors too had procured the pistols and cartridges from an illegal firearms dealer Pappi Singh (35), also hailing from Umrati in MP.
In a separate action, on October 19, sleuths of the crime branch of Pimpri Chinchwad police had nabbed three minors along with a 19 year old adult with possession of two country pistols. Police said the four accused had allegedly attacked and opened fire at a man in Hadapsar area of Pune city, following a previous dispute, around 9.30 pm on October 15.
