Rabale police on Monday arrested three men in connection with the murder of a Ghansoli-based civil contractor Pravin Tayde who was shot dead over business rivalry, said police. The police have identified Jayesh Patil, 37, a civil contractor, as the main accused who allegedly conspired with accomplices Santosh Dora alias Guddu, 22, and Devendra Mali, 22.
Inspector Girish Gore of Ghansoli police station said as Tayde was getting more contracts Patil got irked and decided to carry out the crime. “We are probing to establish for how long they were planning the murder,” he said.
The incident took place on Thursday, when Tayde was riding his scooters with his friend Dattatrey Jognand in Talavli village. Patil arrived there with Dora and Mali in an Alto car, and upon spotting Tayde, Dora walked up to him and shot him in the face, said police. Mali also allegedly fired in Tayde’s direction from the car but failed.
As the trio were trying to escape in their car, Jognand tried to stop them but Patil rammed the car into him which smashed the windshield, said police. “Knowing that the damaged vehicle would raise suspicion, the men abandoned the car at Varisht Chowk in Koparkhairane and boarded an auto for Kalyan. However, as they hopped from Thane, to Lonavala and then to Kamshet, they ran out of money,” said a police source.
Meanwhile, with the help of CCTV footage and eye-witness accounts, the police recovered Patil’s car on Saturday while a police team chased the trio to Kamshet but failed to nab them.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, with the help of CCTV footage and eye-witness accounts, the police recovered Patil’s car on Saturday while a police team chased the trio to Kamshet but failed to nab them.
{{/usCountry}}A police officer said following a tip-off that Patil and Dora would be arriving near National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in Kharghar to collect money, the police nabbed them.
“We recovered two pistols and six live cartridges from their possession and later nabbed their third accomplice. They have been booked on charges of murder,” said Yogesh Gawde, senior inspector at Ghansoli police station.
All three accused have petty cases of assaults against them. Police are probing where they procured the weapon from and are likely to make more arrests in the case.