Firing incidents: Cops unable to trace accused

The zone IX police are trying to find common links between the three firing incidents that took place in the jurisdiction of Khar, DN Nagar and Oshiwara police stations.

The zone IX police are trying to find common links between the three firing incidents that took place in the jurisdiction of Khar, DN Nagar and Oshiwara police stations.

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However, they have not been able to trace any of the accused, as they are not receiving much cooperation from the victims.

After Tuesday’s incident in which Prashant Chabbaria (40), manager of Mahesh Notandass jewellers in Lokhandwala, Andheri (West) was shot at by one of the three unidentified men, the police sought help of Janak Aswani, the victim of the firing at Khar on June 4.

However, Aswani refused to cooperate, said a police official.

“Firing at Aswani was a case of mistaken identity. He was lucky as the bullet brushed past him. Now he is too scared to get involved in anything relating to that matter,” an officer said.

Police said that the men wanted to shoot a builder whose office is next to Aswani’s. They entered the victim’s office thinking it was the builder’s office. On June 30, two unidentified men shot at a builder’s sales executive officer. In this incident too the bullet grazed past the victim causing minor injuries.

“In many cases the assailants come with the intention of just petrifying their prey so that when contacted for ransom, they would cough up the amount easily,” a crime branch official said.

Police say all the three incidents have been allegedly carried out by members of Ravi Poojary gang members.

“It’s becoming difficult to track down the assailants, as most of them are new recruits and don’t have past record,” an officer said. Deputy Commissioner of police K.M.M. Prasanna said, “Investigations are on. We are trying to control such incidents.”