Mumbai: The Mumbai crime branch has arrested a 22-year-old Amritsar resident who was allegedly asked by an absconding accused, Lalit Sharma, to kill a Bandra-based garment shop owner, Shabnam Shaikh. The accused was arrested from Antop Hill late on Saturday.

The officials told the court that the instructions were given on WhatsApp, however no firearm had been recovered from the accused, Jagbir Singh. The probe was initiated after Shaikh received an call from a person who identified himself as Dawood Ibrahim and demanded `1 crore from her, alleging that she had taken the money to settle a dispute with a Bollywood actor.

The officials said that they had arrested Singh after the anti-extortion cell of Mumbai crime branch tracked him down and apprehended him late on Saturday. “Singh was asked to reach Mumbai where a person would hand him a firearm to attack her,” said a crime branch officer.

Singh, however, never got the weapon and police is verifying whether or not the delivery happened. This is the third arrest in the case. Previously, Harish Yadav (30) and Bilal Shamsi (50) were arrested from New Delhi and Bandra respectively. The investigators said that the duo had provided Shaikh’s identity details and had sent her pictures to Sharma and other accused. Yadav and Shamsi have been remanded in judicial custody. Singh has been remanded in police custody for further investigation, the police said.