3 killed, 1 injuredin 4 shootouts

D’Souza, a history-sheeter, was standing near a material supplier’s shop at Varma Building, Jawahar Nagar, when the assailants accosted him and opened fire. In a matter of few seconds the trio emptied 9 rounds into his body. As D’souza collapsed to the ground, the gunmen escaped.

D’souza, who was hit in the head, chest, neck and shoulder, was rushed to the Veera Desai Municipal Hospital, Santacruz (east), where he was declared dead before admission. Police sources said he was involved in over 16 criminal cases and was first arrested in 1992. While in custody, he had come incontact with notorious gangster Chhota Rajan’s key associate, Sadhu Shetty, said a senior Crime Branch officer. Later on, between 1994 and 1998, he joined hands with Vinod Matkar, another Chhota Rajan associate and the two of them were involved in several crimes in the western suburbs of Mumbai, including an attempt to murder.

Only a few months back, D’souza had broken away from Matkar’s gang and had formed his own group, which was very active in Khar (east). “We are not sure of the motive. But it could be an old enmity or intra-gang rivalry,” a crime branch officer said.

In the second incident, around 4 pm Bandra police received a call from a few students who were playing at the Supari Tank ground on the Carmichael Road. They said there was an unidentified body lying in one corner of the ground. A police party reached the spot at 5 pm. The body with two bullet holes in the head was found near a small room located at the end of the ground.

Additional Commissioner of Police (north-west) Dr Satya PalSingh said: “The deceased has been identified as Milap Jain (35). His visiting card indicates he was a manufacturer of handkerchieves and scarves.” Singh said Jain, a resident of Sun Mill compound, Lower Parel, was an associate of Ashwin Naik gang. “It seems he was killed around 2 pm and his body was dumped in a secluded corner of the ground,” Singh added.

In the third incident, a guman fired at Ketan Shah, a video cassette library owner, in his shop at Lamington Road at 5 pm injuring him seriously. Shah was at the counter of his shop – Home Video – when the assailant fired two rounds. While one of the bullet hit Shah on the chest, the other struck the counter. The hitman then escaped by breaking the glass door, an eyewitness said. Another eyewitness described the gunman as tall and dark and dressed in blue jeans and a shirt of the same colour.

People in the neighbouring shops saw the hitman running through the busy Lamigton Road. He crossed over near Imperial Cinema and was seen dashing towardsKrantiveer G Anna Athlye Chowk. He then took a left turn and entered V P Road before melting into the crowd. The firing took place barely 100 meters from the D B Marg police station.

In the fourth murder and the last in the bloody series, a TADA detenue and a close associate of Dubai-based underworld don, Dawood Ibrahim, was shot dead at Fountain (Hutatma Chowk), in south Mumbai. According to police, Manish Gangaram Lala was supervising a furniture contract at the White House Beer Bar near KongKong Bank around 6.15 pm when three gunmen fired six rounds at him. Three bullets hit the victim on his chest and neck killing him on the spot.

Lala was involved in the infamous J J Hospital shootout in September 1992 in which two policemen were killed. He was also an accused in the serial bomb blasts that rocked the city in 1993 and was detained in Yervada Prison near Pune. Lala (45) was a close associate of Dawood Ibrahim’s key shooter Sunil Sawant alias Sawtiya. A few years back Lala had started furniturebusiness, which police insist was a front for his underworld dealings.