Mumbai: Four suspects who fired shots outside film director Rohit Shetty’s house in Juhu and then fled have been arrested by Pune police and handed over to the Mumbai Crime Branch. Due to the sensitive nature of the case, Mumbai police produced all the accused before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court late Sunday night. The court remanded them to police custody until February 5.
Who are these accused?
According to Mumbai police, a team from Pune’s Warje police station conducted a search operation in the Warje, Karve Nagar, Dhayari, and Narhe areas and detained four people. The arrested accused include Swapnil Bandu Sakat (23 years old), Siddharth Deepak Yenpure (20 years old), and Samarth Shivshankar Pomaji (18 years old) from Dhayari. Aditya Gyaneshwar Gaikwad (19 years old) was apprehended from Karve Nagar.
Their accomplice, Shubham Lonkar, is still at large. The investigation also revealed that Shubham Lonkar, a gangster from the Warje area, was involved in the Baba Siddiqui murder case. Police investigation revealed that Shubham Lonkar had sheltered Baba Siddiqui’s killers. Shubham Lonkar has been missing since this incident, and the police have not yet found any trace of him. Denial of links to the Bishnoi gang.
The four accused arrested from Pune were produced before a special holiday court by Mumbai police at 10:20 pm on Sunday night, and their remand was sought for further investigation. The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court accepted the request and remanded all the accused to police custody until February 5. The accused’s lawyer, Ajay Dubey, dismissed all the allegations, claiming, “These accused were arrested by the police solely on the basis of suspicion. They have no connection to this case, nor did they fire any shots. The only information is that accused number 1 was in contact with Shubham Lonkar, who actually did the firing and has not yet been apprehended.”
The lawyer further stated, “These individuals had no knowledge of this incident. They didn’t even know that something like this was going to happen. All the accused are cooperating with the investigation. The accused did provide the vehicle, but they were completely unaware of the conspiracy. Despite this, the police have charged them with being involved in the conspiracy.”
What happened?
A shooting incident occurred late Saturday night outside the residence of film director Rohit Shetty in the Juhu area of Mumbai. No one was injured in the incident, but it caused a stir in Bollywood and Mumbai. Arzoo Bishnoi, a close associate of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, released a clip on social media claiming responsibility for the shooting and stating that he had orchestrated the conspiracy with his associates.
A case was registered immediately after the incident, and the Mumbai Police Crime Branch launched an investigation. The police examined CCTV footage from the Juhu area, which showed the attackers fleeing on a motorcycle. The police received information that these absconding accused were hiding in the Warje area of Pune. The Mumbai Crime Branch immediately informed the Pune police, and action was initiated.
Is Pune becoming a new hub for crime?
As soon as it was revealed that Lonkar and his associates were linked to the Bishnoi gang, Pune and Mumbai police launched a search for him in several locations. A Pune police team had previously tried to locate Lonkar in Punjab and Haryana, but he has not yet been apprehended. Initial investigations have revealed that the suspects who fired shots at Rohit Shetty’s house are also linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The Bishnoi gang’s involvement also surfaced in the murder of Baba Siddiqui in Bandra, and so far, 18 people have been arrested in connection with the case. These accused were also given shelter by Shubham Lonkar. Following the Siddiqui murder, it has now emerged that the suspects who fired shots outside Rohit Shetty’s house are also from Pune.
Earlier, on May 29, 2022, the Punjab Police had arrested gangster Santosh Jadhav, Siddhesh Kamble alias Mahakal, and Tejas Kailash Shinde from the Manchar area of Pune in connection with the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala. Recently, a businessman from Pimpri was also threatened by the Bishnoi gang for extortion, while a year ago, a builder in the area received a similar threat.
