Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Gang rivalries have been rife in Pune since the 1960s when feuds between Narayan Jagtap, a vegetable trader from Mandai who also ran illegal liquor and matka dens, and Govind Taru from the Kasba Peth area were well known.
In the 1980s, attacks and revenge killings between the Balu Andekar and Pramod Malvadkar gangs rocked the city. Those were days when key criminal gangs operated from the mid-city areas in Pune.
According to the police, as land prices went up following the growth of the industrial belt, it led to the emergence of gangsters involved in crime, politics, and fierce gang wars on Pune’s outskirts.
One of the most notorious gangsters from the city’s outskirts was Sandip Shankar Mohol, a resident of Mutha village under the Mulshi taluka of the Pune district. Mohol joined the world of crime when he was 19 years old and within a short time, he gained notoriety across the Pune district in the criminal as well as political circles, say police officers who knew him.
He was shot dead by his rivals in broad daylight near the flyover on Paud Road on October 4, 2006, when he was 24. His murder exposed the ugly face of the organised crime syndicates in the Mulshi area, which came to be known as the “Mulshi Pattern”.
‘Worked in Mumbai underworld style’
Born in a farming family, their financial condition was not good and his father had started working as a labourer in Pune’s Market Yard. Known to be a wrestler, Mohol joined hands with criminal elements.
Once considered close to gangster Baba Bodke, Mohol soon formed his own gang. His name started cropping up in serious offences including murder, land grabs, and extortion soon after.
Retired assistant commissioner of police Bhanupratap Barge said Mohol was arguably the first gangster in Pune who operated in “Mumbai underworld” style.
“Sandip was known to give a monthly salary to many of his gang members. Several small gangs in the district had joined hands with Sandip, considering him as their leader,” said Barge, who investigated the Mohol murder case when he was an inspector with the Pune city police Crime Branch in 2006.
His supporters claim Mohol was liked by many because of his “Robin Hood-like qualities” as he looted the rich and distributed their money among the poor. After he became the sarpanch of his village, he joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and wanted to be active in mainstream politics. At the time of his murder, he was a vice president of the NCP’s Workers’ Union in Maharashtra.
Act of revenge
On the day of his murder, Mohol left home around 10.30 am for Pune City along with his aides in a sports utility vehicle (SUV), as per police records. Around 11.30 am, as they stopped at the traffic signal near the flyover on Paud Road, a group of armed men on motorcycles surrounded Mohol’s vehicle.
They broke the vehicle’s glass and fired six bullets at Mohol sitting in the back seat. After receiving information about the incident, a police team rushed to the spot. His body was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced ‘dead on arrival’.
His aide Prakas Karpe lodged the First Information Report (FIR) in connection with his murder at the Kothrud police station. During the course of their investigation, police teams headed by inspectors Barge and R Y Shinde arrested 18 people, including dreaded gangster Ganesh Marne, Sachin Nivrutti Pote, and others.
The police suspected Ganesh Marne had hatched a plan to kill Mohol for revenge and supremacy as he believed Mohol was behind the murder of his aides Anil Marne and Sudhir Rasal in 2005 and 2006.
The accused were booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act. Later, the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) was also invoked against the accused. The then assistant commissioner of police Sanjay Jadhav had submitted the chargesheet against the accused before the special MCOCA court.
In July 2021, nearly 15 years after Mohol’s murder, additional special judge A N Sirsikar convicted Sachin Pote, Jameer Shaikh, and Sachin Lande under Section 235 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and for the offences punishable under sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 302, and 427 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Each of them was awarded imprisonment for life.
But, key accused Marne and eight others were acquitted by the court. None of the accused was convicted under MCOCA. Two accused Dinesh Aavji and Pandurang Mohol had died during the trial, and another accused Indraneel Mishra was murdered following a financial dispute in April 2021.
Convicts have filed an appeal in the Bombay High Court and are currently out on bail, according to the police.
Another gangster from Mulshi
After Marne was sent to jail, his aide Kishor Marne ran the gang. On January 11, 2010, gangster Sharad Hiraman Mohol and his aides opened fire at Kishor and also attacked him with sharp weapons at the Platinum Hotel near the Neelayam Theatre in Pune city.
Sharad also belongs to Mutha village in Mulshi, and it is suspected that he killed Kishor to avenge Sandip’s murder. In May 2016, a court in Pune convicted Sharad along with six others in connection with this murder case.
In June 2012, Sharad and his aide Alok Bhalerao were accused of killing an Indian Mujahideen (IM) terror operative inside the high-security Yerwada Central Prison. However, they were acquitted of all charges in this case.
Sharad also got bail in the Kishor Marne murder case from the higher court. Police sources say Sharad Mohol’s link to IM operative murder got him huge fame and support. While in jail, he had even won an election and became the deputy sarpanch of a village under the Mulshi taluka. His wife has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Criminal activities of the gangs operating in the Mulshi and Kothrud areas of Pune continue. A Marathi movie Mulshi Pattern, based on these organised gangs, had received a huge response.
