Suniel Shetty mistaken for don in early career days

Sharing of the surname with gangster Santosh Shetty could have landed actor Suniel Shetty in trouble with the police during the early phase of his career in the film industry.

According to sources, slain encounter specialist Vijay Salaskar, who had just joined the crime branch in early 1990s, had heard of the growing clout of Santosh Shetty in the illegal narcotics trade. However, he was not aware of the gangster’s first name. Through his informers Salaskar got to know that the gangster frequents a particular hotel in Central Mumbai to meet a smuggler there.

The said hotel was reportedly owned by a friend of the actor, who too used to visit there, said the sources. Since the actor was just trying his luck in the film industry, he was not known to the general public. Salaskar had then mistakenly thought that the actor was gangster Shetty.

However, Salaskar realised his mistake only after one of his constables saw the poster of the actor’s first film and informed him about the mix-up, they said.

Police sources said that Sanotsh Shetty made whole lot of money from the narcotics trade and first got into it in late 1980s during his visits to Dubai. By early 1990s, he had started rising in the trade. It was during this period when he met members of the D-gang, including Chhota Rajan. He then became close to Rajan and started working with him till 2005 when both parted ways.