Mumbai police arrests 5 for planning to avenge matka king Suresh Bhagat’s death

Police claimed that Bhagat had allegedly given ₹60 lakh contract to his friend Basheer Suleman Begani alias Mamu to eliminate Jaya and her younger sister

The quick detection team of the Mumbai crime branch has arrested five persons, including Vinod Bhagat, brother of slain matka king Suresh Bhagat, for allegedly conspiring to kill his sister-in-law Jaya and her younger sister.

The murder was planned in February and during the inquiry, Vinod Bhagat’s name cropped and he was arrested on December 21.(Pic for representation)

Police claimed that Bhagat had allegedly given ₹60 lakh contract to his friend Basheer Suleman Begani alias Mamu to eliminate Jaya and her younger sister. Police are still looking out for Begani, who is currently said to be in Manchester City, England.

Preliminary probe revealed that Bhagat wanted to avenge the murder of his brother Suresh, who died in an accident on Alibag-Pen road in 2008. Later, it was revealed that the accident was planned by Jaya to eliminate her husband, Suresh.

The others arrested by the quick detection team include Mohammed Anwar Sabbir Darji, 31, Mohammad Javed Islamuddin Ansari, 41, Maqsood Maqbool Qureshi, 35, and Rambeer Naresh Kumar Sharma alias Pandit, 39, all native of Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh.

Inspector Nandkumar Gopale of unit 9 received a tip-off that two persons had come to the city from Uttar Pradesh, with firearms in their possession, to kill women from Ghatkopar. Gopale’s team then nabbed Darji in Khar Danda area on December 18.

The police team recovered two pistols and six live cartridges from Darji, who told police that he was instructed to kill two women in Ghatkopar and revealed the identity of his associates, Ansari and Qureshi, said joint commissioner of police, Milind Bharambe of the Mumbai crime branch.

While scrutinising the Darji’s phone police found pictures of Jaya and her sister. A police team was then sent to Bijnor to arrest Ansari and Qureshi. They were arrested on December 21. They revealed that they were instructed by Sharma to kill Jaya and her sister and were promised ₹60 lakh for executing the plan. Accordingly, they also recced the area, said deputy commissioner of police Akbar Pathan.

The accused even took pictures and made videos of the women during the recce. The murder was planned in February and during the inquiry, Vinod Bhagat’s name cropped and he was arrested on December 21, said Pathan. Police then arrested Sharma who revealed the name of Begani who had already paid ₹14 lakh to Sharma in advance.

Sharma, Begani and Vinod Bhagat were arrested by Gujarat police in 2012 for planning to kill a Matka operator Ghanshyam Tuliya, said another crime branch officer.

Suresh Bhagat died in an orchestrated accident, planned by his wife Jaya Bhagat and son Hitesh. A case of rash driving was registered in the local police station but after the family raised an issue the case was transferred to Mumbai crime branch. The Mumbai crime branch unearthed the conspiracy and learnt that Jaya had given a contract of ₹45 lakh to her friend Suhas Roge, a member of Arun Gawli gang, to kill her husband to control the Multi-crore Matka (gambling) business. Roge then gave the contract to Borivli resident Harish Mandvikar to execute the plan.

Mumbai crime branch arrested Suresh Bhagat’s wife Jaya Bhagat, her son Hitesh, Harish Mandvikar and others. The session court convicted six people including Jaya and Mandvikar to life imprisonments in the Matka King Suresh Bhagat murder case in 2017. Jaya came out on bail last year.