Chunabhatti shootout: Newly arrested duo remanded to police custody

Two more accused have been remanded in police custody in connection with the shootout in Chunabhatti, Mumbai, which killed alleged gangster Sumit Yerunkar.

MUMBAI: A metropolitan magistrate court on Wednesday remanded two more accused arrested in connection with the shootout in Chunabhatti, which killed alleged gangster Sumit Yerunkar aka Pappu, to police custody till January 5.

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The newly arrested persons were identified as Sanidhya Desai, 30, a jeweller from Navi Mumbai and Prabhakar Pachimbare, 30. Police officials said both were residents of Chunabhatti and close friends of Sanil Patil, the prime accused.

Four other persons including Patil and the three alleged shooters arrested earlier this week were also residents of Chunabhatti. They too were remanded in police custody till January 5.

Police suspect that Desai, who opened a jewellery shop in Navi Mumbai’s Kalamboli area recently, provided two motorbikes to the four shooters arrested earlier to flee from Mumbai. They suspect Pachimbare conducted a recce of the spot before the shootout because he was seen visiting the crime scene five minutes prior the firing. He is also believed to have passed on information about Yerunkar’s location to Patil as he lived in the area.

“After killing Yerunkar, the four shooters reached Desai’s shop in Kalamboli, from where they borrowed two bikes and some cash and reached Shaanpada,” said a senior officer who is part of the probe.

“One country-made pistol was recovered from the crime scene, but it seems like it belonged to Yerunkar. We have sent recovered firearms and empty and live bullets to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Kalina for examination. Now, our main focus is on recovering firearms used in the firing, and finding out how the accused procured them,” said another official.

Police officials said all the accused arrested till now used to work under Yerunkar in his gang prior to 2016, when he and seven other associates were arrested for firing at the office of a builder who did not give the contract for supplying construction materials to his gang. Yerunkar and the other accused were booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case, but they were all acquitted by a special MCOCA court in September 2023.

In the meantime, Sanil alias Sunny had acquired a firm hold over the area and all gang members were working under him, said police officials. After Yerunkar was released from jail, he tried to regain control over the area and secure various contracts, which led to frequent verbal spats between him and Sanil.

“Even half an hour prior to the incident, Yerunkar and Sanil had a heated argument and abused each other. Yerunkar also threatened him,” said a police officer, adding that Sanil most likely decided to eliminate Yerunkar for these reasons.

Four other persons including three of Yerunkar’s accomplices and an eight-year-old girl who was passing by also received bullet injuries during Sunday’s firing incident, which occurred around 3.15pm on Sunday. At the time of the incident, Yerunkar was then at the Shri Photo Arts studio at Azad Galli in Chunabhatti to get a photograph with four associates – Roshan Lokhande, 30; Akash Khandagle, 31; Madan Patil, 54; and Vinod Vishwakarma. His birthday was coming up on January 2, and he wanted to put up hoardings with his and his accomplices’ photographs for the occasion, said police officials.

The studio owner was clicking pictures of Yerunkar and Vishwakarma inside the studio while Lokhande, Khandagle and Patil were waiting nearby when four pistol-wielding men approached the studio through Azad Galli. Vishwakarma and the studio owner managed to flee before Sanil fired one round at the ground, abusing Yerunkar while others fired two rounds at Lokhande – one bullet hit his right thigh and another hit his hand.

Sanil and others continued shooting, abusing Yerunkar in loud voices. They shot him on his abdomen and left shoulder, while eight-year-old Trisha Sharma who was playing nearby sustained a bullet injury on her right hand, said police officials.

Yerunkar was seriously injured and shifted to Sion Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police found multiple blank bullets and live bullets lying within a 50-metre radius of the incident spot. Locals were in shock after the incident and most claimed they were sleeping in their houses and only heard gunshots.