3 days Ago By Asseem Shaikh
Pune: A brick kiln owner suffered a bullet injury in stomach after three assailants, including a 17-year-old boy, fired three rounds at him from a country-made pistol in front of his office near Shatrunjay temple in Kondhwa around 12.30pm on Monday. Police said two bullets missed the "target", Dilip Balasaheb Gaikwad (48), a resident of Sainagar.
Akash Jagtap (21) and Tanmay Bhusari (21), both school dropouts and residents of Kakade Vasti in Kondhwa, have been arrested. The boy has been detained. The pistol used in the crime has been recovered.
Dilip was admitted to Bharati Hospital. His condition is "stable after emergency care". Bharati Hospital's medical director Dr Sanjay Lalwani told TOI, "The patient was admitted to the emergency medical care around 1.
30pm with a bleeding grade 3 kidney injury as the bullet was stuck in lumbar vertebrae pedicle. He was promptly stabilised." This is the third incident of firing in and around Pune city in the past three days, highlighting the rising concern of the proliferation of firearms.
Inspector (crime) Mansing Patil of the Kondhwa police said, "Witnesses confirmed that the teenager had fired at Dilip. CCTV cameras also captured the attack and the minor admitted to have fired at the victim. We will produce him before the Juvenile Justice Board on Tuesday.
" "We are working on certain leads before we can reach any definite conclusion about the motive," additional commissioner of police (east region) Manoj Patil said. Dilip deals in sand and gravel supply trade. He has been operating "Shri Datta Suppliers" for over a decade from an office in a corner of an open plot near the Shatrunjay temple.
A Kondhwa police officer, who did not wish to be named, said, "The victim's elder brother and the complainant, Raju Gaikwad (49), told us that his son-in-law was going through a marital dispute with his daughter for the past three months. Raju said his son-in-law nursed a grudge against his brother for taking an aggressive stance whenever their families would sit together to resolve the marital dispute. Raju suspects his son-in-law might have hired the assailants to eliminate his brother.
" Deputy commissioner of police (Zone V) R Raja told TOI, "Some of Dilip's employees told us that the trio reached the gate of the victim's office on a motorcycle and then walked towards the establishment. Around the same time, Dilip stepped out. The trio engaged him in a discussion, which soon turned into a heated argument.
One of the trio then pulled out a pistol and fired at Dilip." Raja said, "The assailants hurriedly got on to their bike and drove away. Two of our beat marshals, Kiran Nevase and Santosh Yewale, spotted them riding triple-seat and signalled them to stop, not knowing that they were running away from the scene of crime.
Instead of stopping, the trio started driving fast. The policemen followed them. The trio drove into the Soham Homes housing society in lane number seven at Purandar colony, about 1km from the scene of the crime.
The policemen managed to corner them and apprehended one of them. The other two ran into a building." Inspector Patil said, "Some residents of the society grew suspicious about the two men hurriedly entering their building and called our police station.
Our detection branch squad went there and took the duo into custody. A subsequent search of the two men and the teenager led to the recovery of the pistol." The police recovered two empty rounds from the scene of crime.
"We are questioning the trio to ascertain the motive behind the attack," DCP Raja said. Additional commissioner of police Manoj Patil said, "So far, the suspects have claimed that they procured the pistol from Madhya Pradesh, but haven't identified the exact source in that state." A case for offences under sections 109 (attempted murder) and 3 (5), of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and under the relevant sections of the Arms Act and the Maharashtra Police Act has been registered.
(With inputs by Steffy Thevar).
