Mumbai: Police have arrested eight people, including two lawyers, after the broad daylight murder of gangster Sharad Mohol in Pune. The video of the murder, which took place on Friday, has gone viral. The Sharad Pawar faction of NCP has demanded deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also heads the state home department.
According to the police, Mohol was shot dead by members of his own gang in Pune over a financial dispute. It was Mohol’s marriage anniversary on Friday. He had planned to visit Dagdusheth Halwai Ganesh Temple along with his wife. When he was about to sit in his car, the assailants attacked him.
CCTV footage of the incident shows a group of men firing at him at point-blank range in a narrow lane in Pune’s Kothrud area. As Mohol fell to the ground, his aides tried to drag him to a safe spot. He was rushed to Sahyadri Hospital in Kothrud, where he was declared dead by the doctors.
The eight people arrested in the case include two lawyers — Ravindra Vasatrao Pawar (40) and Sanjay Rambhau Udan (43). Mohol’s associate Sahil alias Munna Polekar is the main suspect in the case. The other arrested suspects include Namdev Mahipati Kangude, Amit alias Amar Maruti Kangude, Chandrakant Shahu Shelke, Vinayak Santosh Gavhankar and Vitthal Kisan Gandle.
Initial probe has revealed that Sahil, who worked for Mohol, and his accomplices had kept a watch on Mohol for the last few days. “Since Sahil was an associate and nobody doubted him, he and his aides managed to attack Mohol from point blank range,” a police official said.
Within hours of the murder, the police arrested the eight accused near Shirwal on the Pune-Satara highway in two cars. The police seized three country-made pistols, three magazines, five live cartridges and eight cell phones from their possession.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said it was not a gang war as Mohol was killed by his own associates.
The police have booked the assailants under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Arms Act.
NCP MLA (Sharad Pawar faction) Rohit Pawar demanded Fadnavis’s resignation. “He should at least resign from the post of deputy chief minister and focus on the home department. If he cannot handle the home department efficiently, he should resign,” Pawar said.
