Out on vendetta killing, 4 Shakeel men held

The Mumbai Crime Branch arrested four persons on Monday for allegedly planning a vendetta killing at the behest of underworld gangster Chhota Shakeel.

Abdul Wahab Mohammad Hasan Fakir, 27, of Uran; Mohammad Salaam Yakub Ali Hakim, 34, of Cheetah Camp in Trombay; Ramesh Sonji Warkari, 32, of Jogeshwari; and Salaam Mohammad Yusuf Kazi, 32, of Andheri were arrested near Sagar Hotel in Nagpada on Monday around 11.30pm, inspector Dinesh Kadam of the Crime Branch said. They were planning to bump off an advocate to avenge the murder of a lawyer who was defending Shakeel’s close aide Rashid Malabari, who was arrested by the Mangalore police, the Crime Branch said.

Malabari was arrested for allegedly planning to kidnap and kill a few businessmen, Crime Branch officers said. Advocate Naushad Kazim, who was defending him, was shot dead by three men of a rival gang on April 9, they said.

“Shakeel formed the four-member team and assigned it the task of bumping off an advocate of the rival gang,” Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Rakesh Maria said. Shakeel told the four to kill the advocate — whose name has been withheld by the police — outside Mumbai, he said. Shakeel’s close aides Fahim Machmach and Gaffar Chikna were also part of the plot, Maria said.

The four planning to leave the city on Monday night. But they were arrested before that, he said. Machmach and Chikna have been shown as wanted accused in the case, Maria said.

“We have recovered a .22 revolver, three .9mm pistols, 50 live bullet rounds, Rs21,000 cash, a Maruti 800 and a motorcycle, which were to be used for the task assigned to them,” Additional Commissioner of Police Deven Bharti said.

The four were produced before a local court on Tuesday, which remanded them in police custody till May 15.