Inmate planned Taloja firing: Cops

The Navi Mumbai Crime Branch officials arrested the culprits accused of firing at Taloja jail sub-inspector Bhaskar Kachare on Wednesday.

According to the police, the entire operation was planned by Vicky Deshmukh, who is currently in Taloja jail under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). “The contract to kill Kachare was given when  Deshmukh’s associates had come to meet him at the Uran court on September 6,” said additional commissioner of police Fatehsingh Patil.

“When they met at the court, Deshmukh told them that Kachare had to be taught a lesson as he was creating trouble in jail by not letting them access the facilities they wanted to,” Patil said.
Prajyot Balram Patil, Sangram Sharad Khopde, Rupesh Subhash Shinde and Rajesh Rajaram Kaikadi, all in late twenties, were arrested for their alleged involvement in the firing case.
“The culprits confessed that Deshmukh constantly instructed them through phone calls on how to go about the killing,” Patil said, adding that they will soon get Deshmukh in for interrogation to find out how he made the calls.

On Deshmukh’s orders, Shinde arranged for a pistol and four rounds, and  Kaikadi, a  bike. Kachare was on his way to Panvel with his friend Anwar Patel on Sunday when they stopped their car saying they were driving rashly. It was then that Prajyot Balram Patil shot Kachare.

Patel rushe d Kachare to a hospital where he is now undergoing treatment.

The crime branch sleuths probed the case under the guidance of Patil, commissioner AK Sharma, DCP (crime) Shrikant Pathak and ACP (crime) Suresh Pawar. They will be produced before the Panvel magistrate court on Thursday.