Crime branch invokes MCOCA against history sheeter Amit Bhogale, 10 others

Mumbai: The crime branch has invoked stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against notorious history-sheeter Amit Bhogale and 10 others, booked for allegedly killing a businessman in Bhandup in October last year

Mumbai: The crime branch has invoked stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against notorious history-sheeter Amit Bhogale and 10 others, booked for allegedly killing a businessman in Bhandup in October last year.

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Mumbai police officials said Bhogale was earlier part of Kumar Pillai gang and had more than a dozen cases, including murders, attempts to murders and extortion, registered against him. They added that after splitting from the Pillai gang a few years ago, Bhogale had formed his own gang which was active in the Eastern region of Mumbai and Thane, and he used to secure construction-related contracts by using muscle power.

Bhogale was arrested in November last year after police found out that he was the purported mastermind behind the murder of Suraj Mehra, owner of a Chinese restaurant in Tembipada in Bhandup. After his arrest, the crime branch also seized two pistols, eight live cartridges, a sword, and a vehicle worth around ₹43 lakh from him, said the police official crime branch.

The crime branch will now again seek his custody in view of the invocation of the charges under the MCOCA, the official added.

The officer said that the proposal to invoke MCOCA against the gang was sent to the Mumbai police commissioner seven months back, but cleared only recently based on the evidence collected by the crime branch against Bhogale and his syndicate.

Though Bhogale is behind bars, some of his henchmen threatened the prime witness in the murder case in August this year after which the Bhandup police arrested Bhogale’s two members, Rohan aka Baba Khegde and Sahil Jaiswal for allegedly assaulting and threatening the prime witness at knifepoint to get his name dropped from the list of witnesses from the murder case against their boss.

Mehra was killed on October 4 last year, allegedly by Bhogale’s right hand Sachin Kulkarni alias Chingya and seven of his associates, who had assaulted the victim with swords, choppers, and knives, when he was returning home from his shop, killing him on the spot. The prime witness, an employee of the victim, is an eyewitness to the murder.

The murder case was later transferred to the crime branch and in further investigation, police found that Mehra and Bhogale had the previous enmity as they had threatened to kill each other a month before Mehra’s murder. Bhogale had allegedly instructed Kulkarni and others to eliminate the victim, as he wanted to establish his supremacy in the locality, a crime branch officer said.