Real target was top businessman

MUMBAI, June 24: The four Chhota Rajan gangsters who hurled hand-grenades on a police crack team at Dahisar on Tuesday, killing two constabl...

MUMBAI, June 24: The four Chhota Rajan gangsters who hurled hand-grenades on a police crack team at Dahisar on Tuesday, killing two constables, were on a mission to kill a top city businessman, a senior crime branch officer disclosed today.

The gang was led by Janardhan Pasi alias Janya Bhaiyya alias Robert, notorious as Grenade Pasi,8217; and had assembled outside the Ravindra Hotel to finalise their plans.

Around the same time a crack team of Dahisar police was scanning the area for quot;suspicious-looking men.quot; A tip-off received earlier in the day had said the criminals would be meeting at 6 pm at S V Road. 8220;Their instincts led them to the criminals, who were sitting in the hotel8217;s lawn,8221; deputy commissioner of police detection, K L Prasad, said.

Prasad said the constables had grabbed the criminals and foiled their attempt to whip out their automatic weapons, when a sub-inspector went to the hotel8217;s gate to look for more gangsters or weapons. Using the opportunity Pasi managed to extricatehimself from the constables8217; grip. Before the police squad could react, he took out a grenade tucked under his belt, pulled the pin and hurled it at the constables.

The blast instantly killed constables Navnath Shelar and Vilas More and Pasi8217;s accomplices Abdul Latif Shaikh and Jaafar Ali. When Pasi tried to run of the hotel8217;s lawn immediately after the blast, the bystanders realised what was happening. Since Pasi was limping, the assembled crowd caught up with him and beat him up severely, before police took him away. The explosion also left 17 injured, including two police officers and six constables. Pasi, who was rushed to Bhagwati Hospital, succumbed to his injuries early this morning. He had at least 15 cases registered against him in Thane and Mumbai. A lieutenant of Guru Satam, henchman of Chhota Rajan, Pasi was earlier with the Suresh Manchekar gang. Police said Pasi always carried two revolvers and a hand-grenade with him, and was involved in killing his own associate Ajit Gurav and Sewri ShivSena shakhapramukh Vinayak Wable in 1987. Police have launched a manhunt for one of the criminals who managed to escape yesterday.