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Pune gangster Nilesh Bansilal Ghaywal, who is facing multiple criminal cases, is believed to have illegally obtained a passport and travelled to London, despite receiving a negative address verification report from the Ahilyanagar police. On Friday, the Pune city police issued a look-out circular (LOC) for Ghaywal after discovering that he had gone to London during their investigation into alleged violent attacks on local residents in the Kothrud area of the city by his gang members.
Somnath Gharge, Superintendent of Police (SP), Ahilyanagar, said Ghaywal 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)’.
Gharge said the police received the passport verification case online on December 23, 2019. Accordingly, the personnel at the Kotwali police station conducted verification on the address mentioned on the passport, but the applicant (Ghaywal) was not found at the spot. So the then SP of Ahilyanagar police gave ‘not available’ remark on the case and forwarded it to the regional passport office in Pune on January 16, 2020, Gharge said.
A probe is underway to determine how a passport was issued to Ghaywal despite the police providing a ‘not available’ remark, which is considered a negative address verification report, on his application.
On the night of September 17, members of the Ghaywal gang, without any reason, allegedly opened fire at a resident, Prakash Dhumal, and attacked a student, Vaibhav Sathe, 19, with sharp weapons, in the Kothrud area.
Dhumal received bullet injuries and was admitted to a hospital for treatment. Sathe, too, was injured and provided treatment. The police said both victims were innocent and had no previous disputes with the gangsters. Based on the complaints filed by the two victims, two separate FIRs were registered against the Ghaywal gang members on charges of attempted murder.
The police further invoked the stringent sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against Ghaywal and his eight gang members booked in the two cases.
The police arrested five men, identified as Mayur Gulab Kumbhre, 29; Mayank alias Monty Vijay Vyas, 30; Ganesh Satish Raut, 32; Dinesh Ram Phatak, 28; and Anand Anil Chadalekar, 24, all residents of the Kothrud area and allegedly associated with the Ghaywal gang.
During the investigation, the police initiated a probe against Ghaywal and seized his vehicles, including an SUV and three motorcycles. However, Ghaywal had allegedly left India and reached London, the police said.
The police are investigating how he managed to travel to a foreign country despite facing several criminal cases and a high court order that had instructed him to surrender his passport to the police authorities. The police confirmed that Ghaywal’s children are studying abroad, while he was allegedly carrying out criminal activities through his gang members in Pune.
As per police records, Ghaywal, who used to be a henchman for notorious gangster Gaja Marne in the early 2000s, has over 12 offences registered against him, which include cases of murder, attempt to murder, and extortion. He also faced preventive detention in prison under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Slumlords, Bootleggers, Drug Offenders and Dangerous Persons Act (MPDA Act) and prosecution under MCOCA. He was currently out on bail.
Police records indicate that Marne and Ghaywal operated together from 2000 to 2003. The two separated later, and multiple clashes between the two outfits have since then been reported, including murders and attempts on the lives of rival gang members.
