E-Paper
Three booked in Dattanagar firing incident
The injured man has been identified as Vishal Prahlad Punjabi (32), the owner of the shop located on Dattanagar-Katraj road in the Ambegaon Khurd area of Katraj
Three unidentified men travelling on a two-wheeler have been booked for firing a weapon at a shop owner in Dattanagar, Katraj, on Sunday night.
The injured man has been identified as Vishal Prahlad Punjabi (32), the owner of the shop located on Dattanagar-Katraj road in the Ambegaon Khurd area of Katraj.
The incident happened at 8:50pm on Sunday, when the complainant shop owner of Balaji Trading Company was in his shop.
Punjabi sustained a minor wound from the firing and underwent first-aid treatment at Bharati Vidyapeeth Hospital on Sunday night, before being discharged.
The three men arrived on one motorcycle and entered the shop. Punjabi was in the shop and asked one of them what they were wanted. One of the three then pulled out a weapon from his right pant pocket and shot at Punjabi, according to his complaint to the police.
“He stood to ask them what they wanted. The three were standing at varied, but close distances from the counter opposite Punjabi. One of the assailants, who did not fire, was closer to the counter where he was counting money collected for the day. He could have easily pulled out the money if that was their intention. However, one of them fired and the complainant had very luckily, bent down to do something. Had the angle of the weapon been any lower than it was, it would have killed the complainant,” said senior police inspector Jagannath Kalaskar of Bharati Vidyapeeth police station.
The complainant then claims to have pulled out the drawer from the shop counter to hit the three men, but they had already fled the spot, according to the police.
The incident could have been captured in the CCTV camera inside the shop. However, the CCTV was out of order. Footage from cameras around the spot is blurry.
The police are investigating the case from all possible angles including robbery and extortion. However, the sections for these crimes have not been invoked in the case.
A case under Sections 307 (attempted murder) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code, along with Section 37(1) with 135 of Maharashtra Police Act has been registered at Bharati Vidyapeeth police station against the three. Assistant police inspector S Kavthekar of Bharati Vidyapeeth police station is investigating the case.
