Police on Monday arrested suspected members of fugitive underworld don Ravi Pujari gang and claimed to have uncovered a conspiracy to murder two well-known Bollywood filmmakers who are also brothers.
In all, 13 members of the gang were nabbed and some of them were allegedly involved in firing outside the home of two other film producers. "We have prevented an attempt to carry out firing on two well-known film personalities on Saturday. Seven men, at the instructions of a gangster currently based abroad, were arrested when they gathered at suburban Khan to execute firing on one or both the filmmakers," said Joint Commissioner of Police Sadanand Date.
Based on their interrogation, six more members of the Pujari gang were apprehended during an operation carried out yesterday and today, he said. With these arrests, the Crime Branch also claimed to have cracked the case of shooting outside the residence of Bollywood film producer-brothers Karim and Ali Morani on August 23. Three of the seven men held on Saturday had fired bullets in the air to scare Karim Morani, producer of box- office blockbuster "Chennai Express". Police had filed an attempt to murder case against three unnamed people. Morani had been receiving threatening calls from Pujari in the last few months and had sought police security.
Date said a trap was laid at Khar, where the seven Pujari gang members had assembled, at about 9 pm on Saturday. "The seven were immediately apprehended. Three firearms, 15 live cartridges and a motorcycle were seized." "The instruction by the gang leader to them was to carry out a 'pure shot', which clearly indicated the accused were waiting for an opportunity to bump off any one or both the two filmmakers (who have their office in Khar)," he said.
Those nabbed on Saturday were identified as Ishrat Shaikh, Mohammed Hakikulla Khan, Azim Khan, Ashfaq Abdul Rashid, Asif Sattar Khan, Shahatwal Shaik and Feroz Sayyed. Among them, Azim Khan is pursuing Diploma in Engineering. The other six gangsters were Shabbir Shaikh, Rahim Khan, Mohammed Rashid, Sufiyan SK, Faise SK and Armaan Siddique, police said.
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