JOIN USThe assailant shot dead Angare Pujari (74), owner of Monginis cake shop in the suburb, from close range when he was at the bakery this afternoon. The shooter was overpowered by passersby and the staff, who later handed him over to police while Angare was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead.
According to police, the accused Kushal Sharma (29) had gone to the shop where he ate a pastry and requested for chocolate. After a while, he went to cash counter where Angare was sitting.
"He then whipped out a revolver and fired one round at Angare with the bullet hitting the victim's neck. The shocked staff and passersby caught hold of the accused till police reached the spot. The profusely bleeding Angare was rushed to nearby private hospital where he was declared dead," said Surendra Paithankar, senior inspector at Goregoan Police Station.
A revolver and three live rounds were recovered from the accused, police said. Additional Police Commissioner Ramrao Pawar said, "We suspect he may have killed the victim at the behest of some gangster."
The deceased, who used to run a local club earlier, had a year ago received extortion calls from gangster Hemant Pujari, police said. "We are probing the murder case from all angles including if Hemant Pujari was behind his killing. The accused is not co-operating with us," another officer added.
Crime branch officials were also interrogating the arrested accused, police said. Police suspect the accused might have had an associate at the time of murder. "Sharma's associate might have escaped after the public nabbed him," Pawar said.
In a similar incident on Monday, two gunmen, claiming to be members of the Ravi Pujari gang, opened fire and killed two employees of a Mumbai-based developer, Sudhakar Shetty, at the site of an under-construction building in Andheri, police said.
The two, posing as courier personnel, had entered the construction site and headed for the makeshift office where site supervisor Yogesh Sule (29) and engineer Samrat Devarsia (28) were working. According to police,the two staffers were fired at from close range.