A Thane sessions court on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment, Shiv Sena leader Raja Gawari along with six others after they were found guilty of murdering builder Deepak Patil in a shootout in 2011.
The convicted include Raja Gavari (38), Nitin Vaiti (35), Atul Ashok Deshmukh (29), Raja Madanchand Thakur (26), Jaideep Jaiwant Salvi (26), Sujit Sutar (35) and Sujit Nyaynirgune (34). The motive for murder was that the accused wanted partnership in the business for a private construction site at Vitava. All arrested accused have serious criminal records including murder, attempt to murder, robbery, theft etc.
Apart from Gavari, all other accused are in prison. After the conviction awarded by Sessions Court Judge, A.S. Bhaisare, police arrested Gavari from his residence. He is now planning to challenge the court’s judgment in the high court. Gavari was earlier Congress Corporator of Vitava, two years before he shifted loyalties to Sena. He was arrested in 2011 but later, the court granted him bail on a PR bond of Rs 30,000 with one solvent security in the like amount.
The murder occurred near Vitava subway in Kalva in 2011. The deceased Mr Patil was a small builder cum supplier of building material. He too was an accused in Navi Mumbai Corporator Devidas Chowgule’s murder case. He was out on bail.
On the day he was murdered, Mr Patil was returning to Airoli to his residence. One of the arrested accused, Thakur, was driving a jeep which he swung in front of Mr Patil’s jeep. Salvi broke Mr Patil’s car windows with a steel rod while Deshmukh shot him with his gun.
