Three Pujari men held over plot to bump off bizman

The police arrested three sharpshooters hired by the Suresh Pujari gang to kill a businessman from Fort. Two of the arrested men are also involved in the recent firing on a receptionist at a hotel on Kalyan-Bhiwandi road, they said.

The arrests, which were made in the early hours of Saturday, came after the businessman approached the anti-extortion cell of the crime branch saying Pujari was trying trying extort Rs 1 crore from him. In his phone calls, Pujari had bragged about the hotel firing to assert his demand.

Two masked men had barged into KN Park Hotel on near Kalyan on January 10 and shot receptionist Swara Shirsat after it owner refused to pay extortion money to Pujari and went to cops. The assailants had left a note with 'Suresh Pujari' written on it.

"Primary investigations showed that Pujari was aware of the businessman's exact locations which raised suspicion. We found a man loitering near his office and detained him on Friday night. He told us that a plot had been worked out to kill the businessman," said an officer from the anti-extortion cell.

Moving swiftly, the cops took his accomplice into custody. "That's when we learnt about three sharpshooters reaching Dadar railway station from Ratnagiri. We recovered two pistols, three magazines and five live bullets from them. The accused had planned to extort money from other 22 people in Mumbai and its neighbouring areas," said the officer.

Dilip Sawant, deputy commissioner of police (detection), said, "The arrested accused have confessed to their role in hotel firing. They were in continuous touch with gangster Suresh Pujari. We are yet to make one more arrest in the case."

Sawant said they will collect more information about the people on Pujari's hitlist.