An accused in the 2006 murder case of Congress leader Pawanraje Nimbalkar on Tuesday surrendered before a local court, which remanded him to judicial custody till September 9.
Sashikant Kulkarni, a government employee and brother-in-law of an accused Satish Mandade appeared before a magistrate in Panvel stating that he feared CBI would arrest him and take his custody in the murder case.
According to CBI, Kulkarni had paid a sum of Rs four lakh to the other accused who has been arrested to purchase weapons and a vehicle.
CBI officials said they would approach the Panvel court on Wednesday and seek Kulkarni's custody to interrogate him.
The CBI had, in August, filed a 5000-page chargesheet in the case naming suspended NCP leader Padamsinh Patil as the prime conspirator.
According to the CBI, Patil had paid a 'supari' (contract killing sum) of Rs 30 lakh to murder Nimbalkar due to political and business rivalry.
The other accused in the case are - Satish Mandade, Mohan Shukla, Parasmal Jain, Dinesh Tiwari, Pintu Singh and Chotu Pandey.
All the accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy and double murder.