Two Chhota Shakeel gangsters held

At Appu Ghar, the police spotted the two waiting for someone. When the duo started to move away, the police intercepted them, although they put up some resistance by drawing their guns.

When the police questioned them, they apparently said there had been a second murder attempt on Vaidya, the first had been in December last year.

According to Ashok Chand, these attacks were part of Chhota Shakeel8217;s larger gameplan. The police believe he is Dawood Ibrahim8217;s frontman in India.

The gang had reportedly targeted those, including Vaidya, who had played a role in the Bombay riots of 1992, during which the Muslim community had been targetted. Chhota Shakeel, based in Lahore, instructed Zuber Shaikh to target all those indicted by the Sri Krishna Commission Report. During the second murder attempt on March 4, Shakeel called Zuber and informed him of plans to eliminate Vaidya.

Reports say Zuber was accompanied by Fazal Mohammed. They had two other men, Rahmatullah Khan Sheikh and Azimuddin, who met them at Mahim Naka, where Vaidya resides. Using AK-56 rifles and pistols, they sprayed bullets at the residence. Three people died in that attack. Vaidya and three others were injured.

Rahmatullah Khan was later killed in an encounter with the Mumbai Police and Azimuddin was arrested. Zuber Sheikh and Fazal fled Mumbai after the assassination attempt. They reportedly went to Nagpur, Calcutta, Siliguri and Kathmandu, before reaching Delhi a few days ago.

Fazal has been involved in a murder case prior to the attack on Vaidya, while Zuber has a long criminal record. It can be traced back to February 1992 in Mumbai, when he robbed a trader of Rs 2.5 lakh. He was involved in another robbery, Rs 2 lakh was taken in that heist. Ten kg of gold the next month.

He was arrested in May that year for shooting at Arun Gawli8217;s gang members and was only released in March 1995. The following month, he then robbed a chemical factory, this time he made off with Rs 4.5 lakh. There were other similar robberies, till he joined Dawood8217;s company in June that year. Since then, he has been involved in attempts to extort money from builders in Mumbai. His demands have ranged from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore. The police go on to say that he murdered drug dealer Ayub Khan in August, 1995 for not paying up Rs 1.5 crore. He also killed a shop-keeper in Mahim.

After that they fled to Kanpur as one of their associates, Umar Bhai, got caught by the police.

In August 1996, he came to Delhi to 8220;terminate8221; Subhash Thakur who was in Tihar jail. During that time, they stayed in a hotel in Paharganj using aliases. Their plan was to kill him on the premises of the court. The plan had been hatched by Chhota Shakeel, but it went kaput when their associate, Saleem Beg, was arrested along with his men by the Delhi Police.

The two men are being questioned by the police to ascertain their other involvements and the Mumbai Police have been informed. They have been remanded to judicial custody till July 2.