Firing in Goregaon flat: Bizman remanded to two days police custody

Head of operations at online bullion trading company, Rajiv M Ranjan, remanded in police custody for firing rounds from licensed revolver at family in Mumbai.

MUMBAI: Rajiv M Ranjan, head of operations at an online bullion trading company, who allegedly fired three rounds from his licensed revolver after locking his family out of their flat on Sunday, was produced before the court on Monday and remanded in police custody for two days. Arrested by the Dindoshi police on Sunday night, Ranjan was in possession of three licensed guns and the Dindoshi police will apply for cancellation of these licences on Wednesday, said officials.

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According to the police, the businessman lived with his family in the Woods Cooperative Housing Society at Krishna Vatika Marg in the Golkul Dham neighbourhood in Goregaon East. He was inebriated on Sunday evening when he refused entry to his wife Neeta and his son inside the flat after they returned from an outing. When she threatened to call the police, he got agitated and fired three rounds in the air in a fit of rage, they said.

Hearing the gunshots, Neeta and the neighbours panicked and called the emergency number 100, seeking help from the police. At around 6.15pm, a police team reached his house and forced him to open the door after trying to convince him for a long time. The police conducted a spot panchnama and found that the kitchen glass door and dining table was shattered and the puller was lodged in a wooden cupboard. Police also found bullet casings, a magazine, 75 rounds of .32 ammunition and three rounds of a 12-bore gun ammunition, following which Ranjan was taken to the police station and formally placed under arrest.

Officers investigating the case said in all, they found three guns found in Ranjan’s house – two .32 revolvers (a Colt & Smit, and a Wesson) and one .45 Indian make pistol. All three weapons were licenced in Ranjan and his wife’s name in 2015, although the couple did not have license for 12-bore bullets.

The police are now investigating the exact reason behind the domestic dispute which led to the firing. “We are in the process of recording the statement of his wife and neighbours who were witnesses to the firing,” said Irfan Shaikh, senior police inspector at Dindoshi police station.