MUMBAI, January 16: Manohar Sakharam Jinjire, an active Shiv Sainik, was gunned down by three unidentified shooters at Lalbaug today morning.Around 11.45 am, when Jinjire, careless about his personal security, was reading a newspaper outside a hair-cutting saloon barely 30 metres from his residence on Dr S S Rao Marg, three gunmen emerged all of a sudden and fired eight rounds at him from point-blank range, before vanishing from the scene of crime.Eyewitnesses said the gunmen fired a volley of bullets aimed at Jinjire's head and neck, injuring him seriously. He staggered a few feet and collapsed in a pool of blood.Joint commissioner of police (crime) Ranjit Singh Sharma said the assailants used .38 revolvers to kill Jinjire. ``Police suspect the involvement of the Arun Gawli gang in the killing,'' Sharma said.After questioning witnesses, deputy commissioner of police (crime) K L Prasad said all the armed assailants opened fire at the same time. Jinjire was a active Shiv Sena party worker, Prasad confirmed.Jinjire, who was rushed to the nearby KEM Hospital, was declared dead before admission.Police have recovered two empty cartridges from the scene of crime. Though investigations are on, some police officers suspect that Jinjire could have been killed by members of the Suresh Manchekar gang because of his proximity to a local Shiv Sena vibhag pramukh. The killing could be related to enmity over the collection of protection money from Kardar Garage, which is situated in the neighbourhood, police said.Some police officers, preferring anonymity, said Jinjire also advised the vibhag pramukh in money matters.More than 10 lives have been lost over collection of protection money from the 200-odd unauthorised structures in Kardar Garage.The collection money is in the region of Rs 3 lakh, and the Manchekar gang has a big stake in the money, police sources confirmed.Jinjire is not the first Sena activist in the area to have fallen to assassins' bullets. Earlier, Vinayak Vable, a Sena shaka pramukh fromnearby Sewri was gunned down by Manchekar's men in 1992. Bappa Nair, Gundlya, Birge brothers and others also suffered a similar fate in the past over the sharing of the protection money. Meanwhile, special branch officers and Agripada police raided Dagdi Chawl this evening and picked up Arun Gawli's top aide Raju Philips. It's not yet known if Philips has been arrested in connection with Jinjire's murder.ú
