Plot to kill Sena shakhapramukh8217; bared

MUMBAI, JULY 22: A plot to kill a Shiv Sena shakhapramukh' was bared when officers of the Crime Branch arrested five members of the Chhot...

MUMBAI, JULY 22: A plot to kill a Shiv Sena shakhapramukh8217; was bared when officers of the Crime Branch arrested five members of the Chhota Shakeel gang at Andheri on Friday evening.

The plot to kill the shakhapramukh8217; assumes significance in light of the fact that security cover of Sena activists have been withdrawn early this week after the State went ahead and ordered the prosecution of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray.

The gang is also responsible for the daring murder of another shakhapramukh8217; Vivek Kelkar at Andheri east on December 9 last year. The shooters are also involved in five other murder cases in the Western suburbs in the last two years.

The gangsters have been identified as Rajesh Khtoch alias Pinky, Sunil Bhenwai alias Rahul, Vinod Junwal alias Radheshyam, Vishnu Kumawat and Ramesh Shetty alias Tambi. They were arrested near Ratna Mahal Hotel at Andheri around 7.30 pm on Friday.

While Khtoch is an estate agent at Andheri, Shetty is an Airport Authority of Indian AAI employee attached to Sahar Cargo Complex. Bhenwai, Junwal and Kumawat were contract killers from Madhya Pradesh, said the police.

Investigators told The Indian Express that the three-member hit squad were summoned to Mumbai to the carry out the killing at the behest of Chhota Shakeel8217;s henchman. Khtoch was to identify the target and Shetty was to provide them with sophisticated firearms.

8220;Since the shooters were from Madhya Pradesh, their identities could not be established easily in the earlier offences,8221;said Deputy Commissioner of Police detection Pradip Sawant.

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The arrest of the shooters from Madhya Pradesh also throw light on the fact that the Chhota Shakeel faction have been getting their recruits from outside the State. Already, the ganglord is known to have used some men from New Delhi and northern Uttar Pradesh.

The gangsters during interrogation confessed to their involvement in the murder of Shabir Mohammed Khan at Mira Road on February 6, Anwar Khan on August 28 last year, builder Pratapsingh Bindra at Andheri east on March 3, estate agent Vivek Patil at Versova on June 23, and fast food stall owner Aziz Malik at Andheri on November 10, last year.

The operation was conducted by Assistant Police Inspector Pradeep Sharma, Arun Borude, Prakash Bhandari and PSI Daya Nayak.

Chhota Shakeel shooters have already shot dead five Shiv Sena activists in separate shootouts in the city since 1999. The killing of another office-bearer could lead to tension in the metropolis.