The anti-extortion cell of the Mumbai police arrested three associates of gangster Chhota Shakeel on April 20 in an extortion case. This is third time the police has arrested Shakeel’s aides.
The anti-extortion cell of the Mumbai police arrested three associates of gangster Chhota Shakeel on April 20 in an extortion case. This is third time the police has arrested Shakeel’s aides.
According to police officials, the anti-extortion cell officers received information from some sources that three members of Shakeel’s gang were planning to meet near Meena Hotel in Jogeshwari (W) with firearms and ammunitions with plans to kill a businessman in the western suburbs.
“Their plan was foiled by the extensive efforts of the anti-extortion cell unit. Our team informed some important sources and help was taken from them and previous cases of a similar nature of this gang and their methodology were studied. The AEC officers were able to trap three persons red-handed. All of them were actively working for Shakeel,” said Joint CP, Atulchandra Kulkarni.
The accused have been identified as a Michael John D’Souza (42), Naim Faim Khan (40) and Nitin Gopal (28). They used to meet regularly to hatch a plan to kill the business man.
D’Souza, a Jogeshwari resident, was their leader. He is already an accused in eight criminal cases of assault, attempt to murder, extortion, etc and all the cases have been registered against him at Oshiwara police station.
The 40-year-old Khan, a Goregaon resident, is a driver by profession and Gopal is a local goon from Jogeshwari. The case has been registered at Amboli police station and the trio has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act.
The police has also recovered two 7.65 bore pistols, 12 live cartridges, five extra magazines, two surgical blades, six mobile phones besides several other incriminating articles.
The trap to arrest gang members was laid by senior police inspector Vinayak Vast, police inspector Dhiraj Koli, assistant police inspector Santosh Natkar, etc among senior officials including Additional CP (Crime) KMM Prasanna and DCP (detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni.
