Sena leader’s murder: Man who did recce, supplied guns arrested

Sawant, 46, was gunned down outside his suburban Kandivli home last year, when he was returning on a motorcycle with Jogannath Verma, a construction contractor.

A 40-year-old man who had allegedly conducted recce for almost a week and supplied weapons to assailants to murder Shiv Sena leader Sachin Sawant, who was killed on April 22 last year, was arrested by crime branch unit 12 from Nalla Sopara area on Saturday.

A 40-year-old man who had allegedly conducted recce for almost a week and supplied weapons to assailants to murder Shiv Sena leader Sachin Sawant, who was killed on April 22 last year, was arrested by crime branch unit 12 from Nalla Sopara area on Saturday.

The accused was identified as Umesh Sahani alias Nishar. He used to live in Kurar area where Sawant was murdered, but later shifted to Nalla Sopara, police said. He was produced in court on Monday and remanded in police custody till March 25.

“Sahani conducted recce for over 10 days and gathered information about Sawant’s routine. The accused had also attempted to murder Sawant once before, but did not succeed,” said a crime branch officer. “We were continuously searching for Sahani but he frequently changed his location. He lived in Palghar, Virar and in several places at his native place in Uttar Pradesh. He was present on site during the murder and also captured in the CCTV footage,” the officer added.

Sawant, 46, was gunned down outside his suburban Kandivli home last year, when he was returning on a motorcycle with Jogannath Verma, a construction contractor.

Additional commissioner of police, Rajesh Pradhan (north region), formed several police teams soon after Sawant’s murder and so far had arrested seven persons.