Four members of the Chhota Shakeel gang have recently been arrested by the crime branch of Mumbai police for allegedly planning to kill an advocate defending Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.
Four members of the Chhota Shakeel gang have recently been arrested by the crime branch of Mumbai police for allegedly planning to kill an advocate defending Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in the Malegaon blasts case. The order to eliminate him came from Shakeel himself, said a crime branch source. He added that another advocate, defending a member of a Hindu extremist group, was also on their hitlist.
Joint commissioner of police and crime branch chief Rakesh Maria, however, refused to confirm that the four had targeted Thakur’s advocate. “They had plans to kill two advocates for taking up cases against Chhota Shakeel,” Maria said. He refused to name the targets. “It is not advocate Manish Chaumal, who is representing the sadhvi in Mumbai,” he said. “The targets are not from the city.”
The plot to kill the advocates came to light when Unit 3 of the crime branch got a tip-off about the gang headed by Mohd Aslam Ghachchi alias Doctor, 44. “Ghachchi has a criminal record of rioting with arms, registered at Nagpada police station in 1991,” Maria said. “His wife is an advocate.”
It was Ghachchi who was told by Shakeel to eliminate the advocates. He was paid Rs50,000 per month as retainer and was asked to form a gang. Ghachchi roped in Kamil Anwar Shaikh alias John, Sail Mohd Ali Fakki alias Babu and Arvind Kumar Pathak alias Panditji for the job. “Among them, only Pathak didn’t have a criminal record in his name,” Maria said.
The gang procured a 9 mm pistol, along with seven live rounds, a 7.65 mm revolver and two knives from Uttar Pradesh to implement their plan. However, on July 3, the police got a tip-off that the gang was headed for Sigdi hotel on Claire Road in Mazgaon. “A trap was laid and all four were caught, along with their weapons. Two motorbikes were recovered from them,” Maria said.
The quartet has been remanded in police custody till July 13. “We are investigating the matter further. Some more arrests are expected soon,” Maria added.
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