Mumbai, November 17: Sanjeeth Shetty alias Lafda, a member of the Kumar Pillai gang, recently forced his way into the office of builder Ramesh Shah in Vikhroli (East), brandishing a 7.65 mm Mauser. But when he tried to open fire, the revolver got jammed. The funny side of the episode is that the gun had no technical glitch. Shetty failed to fire a shot because he had not been properly trained to handle the gun, a source said.
The crime branch of the Mumbai police arrested four members of the Pillai gang, including Shetty, on November 12. An officer involved in the case said that Shetty had never used a gun before. But he being a local goon was given the job of threatening the builder. He was not supposed to kill Shah. He was only to frighten him by opening fire in his office.
“On November 4, Prasad Pujari, an associate of Pillai, assigned a man to train Shetty how to use the Mauser. But he failed to keep his appointment with Shetty. So, Pujari, who is believed to be hiding abroad, had to call up Shetty and instruct him over the phone,” a crime branch official said on condition of anonymity.
Between November 6 and 8, Shetty scouted the builder’s office, but did not get an opportunity to confront Shah. “The next day (November 9), he forced his way into the office of Laxmi Constructions, owned by Shah, at Sai Siddhi apartment in Vikhroli (East). He tried to shoot, but the gun did not respond. Shetty then used the butt of the gun to break some windowpanes in the office and fled the spot,” said the official.
The next day, Shetty spent hours practising, following the instructions given to him by Pujari, and succeeded to fire the Mauser. Confident he was not going to fail, he walked into the office of a Kanjurmarg builder around 6.30 pm and fired four rounds. “Before fleeing, he handed over a scrap of paper to the security guard, asking him to tell the builder to call up the number written on it,” said the official.
Later, Shetty and his associates Mahesh Kalingan, Umesh Pujari, and Santosh Shinde were arrested by the crime branch.
–Agencies–