Rs35,000. That was the amount gangster Abu Salem allegedly paid a henchman to kill high-profile Bollywood producer Rakesh Roshan.
Rs35,000. That was the amount gangster Abu Salem allegedly paid a henchman to kill high-profile Bollywood producer Rakesh Roshan in the year 2000.
The sensational disclosure was made during the interrogation of two Abu Salem members Umer Ansari alias Mohammed Akmal Ansari or Guddu and Zameer Ahmed Siddique on Friday.
The duo was arrested on Thursday while allegedly trying to rob the Union Bank on SV Road by alert onlookers. The arrested men had earlier given their names as Farid Ahmed and Zameer Ahmed Siddique.
“During interrogation, we found out that Zameer, who along with three other Salem gang members, had participated in the shoot-out of Rakesh Roshan when he was coming out of his Santacruz office in 2000. He said he was paid Rs 35000 by the Salem gang .”
They were ordered to shoot Roshan, but got misfired. Roshan survived though he was admitted to the Nanavati Hospital with bullet injuries,” said a senior police officer.
Though each member was offered Rs1 lakh for the operation, they were given only Rs 35,000 probably because Roshan survived the bid on his life, said the police officer.
Among others in Zameer’s hit-list were Adlabs owner Manmohan Shetty and singer Daler Mehndi, who were also threatened with extortion. “Thinking of making quick bucks in Mumbai, they decided to loot the Union Bank. They were caught,” said an interrogating official.
Zameer escaped from police custody in 2000. He told the police that he went back to his home town in Allahabad and had returned to Malegaon only a month ago, where he was staying with his brother. Umar, who had several cases registered against him for various crimes, got a bail recently and soon went to Malegaon, where he met Zameer.
The police during the investigation found Umer was also into smuggling gold and had made at least 50 rounds between Dubai and Delhi.
Investigating officer and senior inspector Dillip Patil said, “They are not small criminals. The more we interrogate them, more things will come out.”
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