An offence was registered at Vikhroli police station, said deputy commissioner of police Dhananjay Kulkarni.
The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Wednesday convicted three members of the Kumar Pillai gang for trying to extort money from a Vikhroli-based builder in 2009 and attempting firing at the victim in his office. According to joint commissioner of police, crime, Atulchandra Kulkarni, a reputed builder and developer from Vikhroli had been receiving extortion calls from international numbers. The callers, Kumar Pillai and Prasad Poojari, were threatening him and demanding Rs50 lakh, which the builder refused to pay.
"On November 09, 2009, an unknown person entered his office around 5.10pm and directly went to his cabin, where the builder, his son and partners were in a meeting. The person, with a pistol in hand, tried to fire at the builder, but the weapon got jammed. The person then came out of the cabin and threatened the staff outside and ran. While running away, he broke the windowpanes from outside to create terror," said additional commissioner of police, crime, KMM Prasanna.
An offence was registered at Vikhroli police station, said deputy commissioner of police Dhananjay Kulkarni. A team of the Ghakopar unit of crime branch, then led by inspector Vinayak Vast, had arrested five people — Sanjeet Shetty alias Lafda Shetty, Mahesh Kalingan, Umesh Poojari, Santosh Shinde and Vinod Ghogle — for their alleged involvement in the crime. "One 7.65-bore pistol and several rounds were recovered from Shetty. The misfired round was recovered from Kalingan. Umesh and Shinde had aided the other accused in the crime, while Ghogle was instrumental in organising it all with the help of Kumar Pillai and Prasad Poojari," said Vast.
He added that the prosecution led the evidence with 62 witnesses. The MCOCA was applied in the case as an organised crime syndicate had committed the offence. "Shetty, Kalingan and Ghogle were convicted by the MCOCA court under MCOCA and IPC sections, while Umesh and Shinde were acquitted. The quantum of punishment will be decided on September 29," Vast said.
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