Mumbai: The Mumbai crime branch arrested three persons from Delhi in connection with the broad daylight shootout of a man in Dadar market area on Friday and found that the murder was hatched over reasons of personal enmity and the shooters were arranged from Uttar Pradesh.
The crime branch officers said that the murder was planned at least five months back and the victim’s movements were watched for at least two days before he was gunned down.
All the units of Mumbai crime branch were pres-sed into the investigation, citing its gravity, and the officials tracked down the assailants of Manoj Maurya, 34, to Delhi. The accused arrested by the crime branch and Delhi police’s special cell were identified as Radhakris-hna Kushwaha (37), a resident of Punjabi Baug area; Rajendra Aherwar (30); and Hemendra Kush-waha(19), both residents of Jalon in Uttar Pradesh.
The trio was apprehended from Delhi on Sunday evening and brought to Mumbai on Monday. The officials identified the accused with the help of the CCTV camera footage of the spot on Senapati Bapat Marg. The officials apprehended the accused and learnt that Maurya and his wife had worked at Radhakrishna’s factory between 2015 and 2017 when there was some dispute between them.
After 2017, the couple returned to Mumbai while Radhakrishna was kicked out of the business by his partners and he was forced to start a new venture which also failed. The probe revealed that he then allegedly hatched the plan to kill Maurya. The duo was hir-ed and promised `50,000 for the murder. Radhak-rishna paid `6,000 to them for procuring the weapon.
“They came to Mumbai to execute the plan on Wednesday, and on Friday shot him dead. We are yet probing into the exact motive,” said Dilip Saw-ant, deputy commissioner of police, detection.
The accused have been booked for murder, acts of common intention as per the Indian Penal Code and as per the sections of the Arms Act.