Two Arun Gawli aides held for trying to kill businessman

Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai police has arrested two aides of convicted gangster Arun Gawli for having made an aborted bid on the life of a local businessman on Wednesday. The arrests were made within 48 hours of the incident.

According to the police, the accused have been identified as Umesh Bhat (46) and Ganesh Parkar (41). The court granted police custody for them till July 10. A police source said, “Around 10:30 pm on Wednesday the victim, who is in the real estate business, having attended a meeting, came out of his office, which is situated at Koparkhairne sector 19, near Aryan beer shop. At that time, two bike-borne men shouted his name loudly and fired three rounds at him and fled from the spot. No one got hurt in the firing, but as it is residential area, everyone in the area got scared.”

The complainant informed the Koparkhairne police, which formed a team along with crime branch officials. DCP zone 1 of Navi Mumbai, Tushar Doshi said, “We have received CCTV footage and the name of the pillion rider who shot at the victim. We immediately informed our sources and on Thursday night they were caught at Vashi. After the arrest of the pillion rider, Bhat, he gave information about Parkar and we arrested him too. We came to know that he is gangster Arun Gawali’s aide and there are 20 serious cases and four murder cases registered against him in several Maharashtra police stations.”

“Initially after interrogation we found that the accused had called the victim for money several times,” added Mr Doshi.