Mumbai jail guard held by ATS for passing gangster’s messages to his aides

The gangster had in one chit asked his aide to threaten a prime witness to give a statement in his friend’s favour

The Charkop unit of the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) on Thursday arrested a guard deployed at a high-security cell in Arthur Road jail for allegedly passing hand-written chits carrying orders of gangster Harish Mandvikar from inside the prison to his henchmen outside the prison.

The guard is in police custody till Monday. (HT FILE)

Mandvikar had in one such chit purportedly instructed his associate Sachin Kolekar to threaten a prime witness in a 2015 drug case to give false statement in favour of his friend and main accused Sajid Electricwala.

According to an officer, ATS Charkop unit busted a drug racket in Lokhandwala and seized 155kg of Mephedrone (MD) and arrested seven accused, including Electricwala five years ago.

This year in February, Mandvikar was arrested by the Mumbai crime branch for allegedly threatening and extorting from a businessman. He was charged under Maharashtra Control Of Organised Crime Act (Mcoca), following which he was lodged in a high-security cell of Arthur Road jail. Electricwala, who was lodged in an adjacent barrack, befriended Mandvikar, said an ATS officer.

After the witness approached ATS, an offence was registered and two persons, Sujit Padwalkar and Kolekar, were arrested. Kolekar had allegedly directed Padwalkar to threaten the witness.

During inquiry, Kolekar revealed Mandvikar and Eelectricwala’s names, said the officer. ATS has also taken Mandvikar and Electricwala in its custody and both are in police custody till Monday.

During probe, ATS found that the jail guard deployed outside Mandvikar’s cell passed the chit to his aide. The guard is in police custody till Monday.