Gangster, three others arrested for creating ruckus at immersion site

Mumbai: A gangster and three of his associates were arrested by the Kandivali police on Tuesday for allegedly creating a ruckus and molesting a female police personnel during the Ganpati immersion in Dahanukarwadi area in Kandivali

Mumbai: A gangster and three of his associates were arrested by the Kandivali police on Tuesday for allegedly creating a ruckus and molesting a female police personnel during the Ganpati immersion in Dahanukarwadi area in Kandivali.

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The arrested accused are Harish Rama Mandvikar, 45, Deepak Gautam Pandey, 34, Subhash Hanumanrao Chaudhary, 30, Rajesh Arun Kokisrekar, 39.

Mandvikar has 10 criminal cases of extortion, assault and murder registered against him in the city and he was the prime accused in the contract killing of Matka king Suresh Bhagat in 2008.

According to the police, the incident occurred during a public Ganpati immersion in a pond in Kandivali, where proper entry and exit lanes were made so people can smoothly and peacefully perform the rituals. Several police policemen and women constables were also deployed on duty.

Harish Mandvikar and his associates entered the queue forcefully and went on to the restricted area threatening the police official. The police official requested him to come in the queue and perform the immersion, but he started arguing with the police personnel. He even misbehaved with a woman police constable and pushed her away, said senior inspector D Ganore of the Kandivali police station.

He was immediately taken into custody, and an FIR was registered against four accused including Mandvikar for manhandling police and molesting a woman police constable on duty, said Ganore.

Who is Mandvikar?

Mandvikar is known as a notorious gangster who has more than 10 criminal cases of extortion, assault and murder registered against him in the city. He was the arrested as the prime accused in the contract killing of Matka king Suresh Bhagat in 2008. Mandvikar was earlier arrested in 2012 by unit 7 of the crime branch for allegedly supplying weapons to his men.

The Mumbai crime arrested him in February 2020 for allegedly extorting ₹10 lakh from a businessman in Kandivali. In December 2020, the Maharashtra ATS took the custody of Mandvikar and his associate, Sajid Electricwala from Arthur Road jail after Mandvikar threatened a witness to give false evidence in favour of Electricwala in another case. Mandvikar was in jail from December 2020 to last year and was released on bail last year.