By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net,
Mumbai: Three shooters, allegedly of the Bharat Nepali gang, which probably came to kill Adv Khalid Azmi (brother of late Adv Shahid Azmi), and Adv RB Mokashi, were arrested in the sessions’ court in Mumbai on Friday. The three have been remanded to 15 days’ police custody.
The incident took place when the court was hearing the murder case of Adv Shahid Azmi, who was killed in his office situated at Taximen Colony, Kurla, on February 11, 2010. The three men, two of whom have been identified as Babu and Munna, were arrested and presented before the Quila Court on Saturday by the Mumbai Crime Branch.
Though the intention of the shooters is not clear, it is doubted that they came to kill Adv Khalid Azmi, who is the brother of Adv Shahid Azmi. It is also suspected that the shooters might have come to rescue the other shooters who have been charged for the murder of Adv Shahid Azmi. Police officials are tight lipped about the motive and just confirmed the arrest of the three shooters.
However, contrary to their usual routine, Adv Khalid Azmi and Adv RB Mokashi could not come to the court for the hearing that day.
Adv Shahid Azmi was shot dead by unidentified persons at his Kurla office on February 11 last year. The Crime Branch invoked the stringent act MCOCA on March 17, 2010 in this case which was dropped by MCOCA court in January, 11. Crime Branch, on February 16, arrested Devendra Bapurao Jagtap (28) and Pintu Devram Dhagle (22), alleged shooters, and Vinod Yashwant Vichare (32), an alleged conspirator. The third shooter Hasmukh Shankar Solanki (32) was arrested on March 10. According to police, investigations revealed that the murder of Adv Shahid Azmi was a contract killing ordained by the two fugitive underworld figures – Bhagwant Singh alias Bharat Nepali and Vijay alias Bala Shetty.