Mumbai crime branch sleuths have arrested one Prakash Ashok Nikam alias Pakya, 33, who was allegedly involved in the shooting of builder Ajay Gosalia in Malad last year. This is the eighth arrest in this case.
Gosalia, who was critically injured in the attack, survived.
According to Sadanand Date, joint commissioner of police (crime), on August 28 last, a few unknown persons fired at Ajay Himmatlal Gosalia, 54, a builder and resident of Link Road in Borivli (W), outside Infinity Mall in Malad around 4pm. Gosalia was critically injured in the incident, and Bangur Nagar police registered a case.
Police investigations revealed that it was an underworld operation and 'supari' had been given to kill Gosalia. The police had earlier arrested seven persons, including one Kaushik Rajgaur, in connection with the case and the case was brought under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
"Nikam, the main shooter in the case, had been evading arrest. He kept on changing locations. On Monday, we received information that Nikam had been apprehended from Diva area in Thane. During interrogation, he admitted to having hatched a conspiracy with his associates to eliminate Gosalia," said senior crime branch inspector Avinash Sawant.
Nikam was known to Chhota Rajan gang's main handler, Satish Kalya, since 2003. Kalya was one of the alleged shooters in senior journalist J Dey's murder in 2011. Nikam was also arrested with Kalya in 2005 in an MCOCA case, Sawant said.
"The court sentenced Nikam to three years imprisonment in that case. While in jail he came into contact with Rajan gang members and after coming out he started working for them. He used to extort money from businessmen at Rajan's behest," Sawant said.
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