Two Abu Salem men shot dead

MUMBAI, Aug 15: The Mumbai police rid the city of two members of the Abu Salem faction of the Dawood Ibrahim gang in an encounter at Borivali today.

Following a tip-off that three gangsters were likely to assemble at Eksar area near Don Bosco High School, Borivali, to hatch a plot to kidnap a businessman, the Crime Branch sleuths from Unit X laid a trap for the trio. Two special teams, including Senior Inspector Ambadas Pote, Inspector Sunil Deshmukh and Assistant Inspector Rajan Ghule, were assembled. While one of them was stationed at a juice centre in the vicinity, the other was posted opposite the school. The stakeout paid off at around 4.55 a.m., when two youths turned up and began approaching the school. When they were told to surrender, they began running and then opened fire on the police party. Police say the officers retaliated, forcing a lull in the gunfire. Both youth were seriously injured and were declared dead on admission to Bhagwati Hospital.

Police seized two automatic pistols from them,of .9mm and .762 mm bore and several live rounds. One of them carrying a driver’s licence and a passport was identified as Rajesh Kumar Singh, a resident of Nizamuddin in UP. The other is yet to be identified. Senior Crime Branch officers suspect them to be from the Abu Salem faction of the Dawood Ibrahim gang.