Two aides of gangster Ravi Pujari held

Two suspected henchmen of fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari have been arrested in connection with a plot hatched to carry out a shooting attack on a city-based builder, police said today.
The accused Dayanand Jatan (48), a sharp shooter in the Pujari gang and his aide Bipil Patil (37) -- both residents of Dombivali in neighbouring Thane district -- were summoned to the crime branch office here for questioning, after which they were placed under arrest.
With this, the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to six.
In March second week, the city police crime branch apprehended three Pujari men from suburban Bhandup.

Two sophisticated pistols and 12 live rounds had also been seized from the trio as they were planning to execute a shootout on the builder, who is believed to have been associated with a political party.
Further probe led to the arrest of one more accused.

"As we continued connecting the dots, our probe indicated the possible roles of Jatan and Patil in the gang activities. The duo was brought for questioning and subsequently arrested in the case last night," said a crime branch officer.
Deputy Police Commissioner Dhananjay Kulkarni said the duo was produced before a court today which remanded them in police custody till April 15.

The two accused used to collect the information of the possible targets for Pujari, who then used to ring up the victims to extort money.