Kurar cops detain 3 suspects in Sena leader’s murder

Mumbai: The Kurar police, which is probing the murder of a Shiv Sena deputy shakha pramukh Sachin Sawant on Sunday night, detained three suspects in the case and are on the lookout for a man who had attacked Sawant in 2009 over a property dispute.

The police suspects that a Kandivali-based Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) project, in which Sawant had allegedly invested heavily, could be linked to his murder.

In the week before the murder, the man who had attacked the Sawant, had visited his office.

Sources in the police said that they suspect the past attacker has role to play in the murder as he was released from jail 15 days ago and has been untraceable since the murder.

The police went to his home in Malvani, where his family claimed that he had not visited them since after his release from jail.

In the 2009 attack, a shooter, who police sources identified as Verma, had shot at Sawant in Kandivali. He was arrested a year later in 2010 and was released a fortnight ago. After Sawant was shot dead, the police’s first suspect was Verma.

A police source said, “The recently bhoomi pujan ceremony of the SRA project in Kandivali, in which Sawant had heavily invested, is suspected to have led to his murder. Currently all suspicion is pointing to the SRA property dispute since Verma had been frequenting Sawant’s office in the past week.”

A party worker, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Asian Age, “Since Bhau (Sawant) and other party members knew Verma had a role to play in the 2009 attack, we were keeping our distance from him and did not let him meet Bhau.”

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 11) Vikaram Deshmane said, “We have picked up several suspects and detained three of them.

Unless we are sure about their roles in the crime, we will not cross out anybody.”