Two women among five of a family held in Uruli Kanchan firing

Pune: Nursery and property developer Bapu alias Dashrath Vitthal Shitole (46) and four members of his family, including two women, were arrested on Sunday, a day after realtor Kaluram Mahadev Gote (36) suffered bullet injuries in their home at Inamdar Vasti of Koregaon Mul village in Uruli Kanchan over a Rs40-lakh loan dispute. "Shitole's family members were arrested after it was established that they were part of the conspiracy and threatening the victim," Pankaj Deshmukh, superintendent of police (SP), Pune, said. A police team nabbed Shitole from a hideout in a farm behind the Uruli Kanchan railway tracks, he said.

Shitole's wife, Nilima (42), son Jignesh (19), and relatives Asha Bhosale (52) and Nikhil Bhosale (25) are other arrested suspects. "We have recovered a rifle, an imported pistol, 175 live rounds of rifle, 40 live cartridges of pistol, besides three barrels and two empty magazines. We are questioning Shitole over the possession of firearms and ammunition.



Shitole has cited self-defence and the need to tackle wild animal menace in farms as the purpose behind securing the pistol and the rifle. He claimed that he procured the rifle licence from the Pune police based on the residential address of his other home at Sopan Baug and the pistol licence from the Pune district collector based on the address of his Uruli Kanchan address," the SP said. "We are verifying his licence documents.

We will also check with the register entries of the ammunition shop(s) that sold the live rounds to him. The entries are required to explain the purpose of purchase of ammunition," Deshmukh said. Investigations so far revealed that Shitole, who is into the business of land plotting, development, and sale-purchase of land and farming, had taken a Rs40 lakh loan from Kaluram more than a year ago.

He failed to repay the loan in time, the SP said. "This led to disputes between the two. Shitole has a flamboyant lifestyle and Kaluram saw it.

But Shitole kept dilly-dallying on the repayment of loan, which led to arguments between them," he said. Shitole had called Kaluram to his home on Saturday to settle the issue. A heated verbal exchange took place between the two, following which Shitole pulled out the pistol and started firing at Kaluram and the latter's aide, Sharad Gote, who had accompanied him.

Shitole fired a total of four bullets, three of which hit Kaluram's hand and legs. The fourth missed the target. Sharad escaped unhurt, the police said.

Kaluram and Sharad are residents of Bhivari in Haveli taluka. Kaluram is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Hadapsar..