Two lawyers among 8 accused arrested, sent to police custody

Pune : In a shocking twist, two lawyers are among the eight accused persons nabbed in connection with the broad daylight killing of Pune gangster Sharad H. Mohol near his office on Friday afternoon, the police said here on Saturday.

All the accused were produced before a Magistrate’s Court, which sent them to police custody, officials said.

The accused lawyers have been identified as Ravindra V. Pawar (40) and Sanjay R. Udaan (43), both from Pune district, who have been sent to three-day police custody.

The others who were sent to five-day police remand are prime accused Sahil S. Polekar (20) alias Munna, Namdev M. Kangude (35), Chandrakant S. Shelke (22), Vinayak S. Gavankar (20), Vitthal K. Gandhale (34), and Amit M. Kangude (24) alias Agar -- all Pune locals.

Polekar was among the trio who shot Mohol at point-blank range near his office-cum-home before fleeing from the spot on motorcycles parked near the crime scene.

Soon after executing the crime, the accused attempted to scoot out of Maharashtra in two vehicles, a sedan and an SUV, but were nabbed late on Friday night from two different locations on the Pune-Bengaluru Highway.

The shootout that shook Pune took place on Mohol’s marriage anniversary at Pandurang Wadi in the Sutardara area of Kothrud on Friday at around 1.15 p.m.

Several CCTV clips that emerged on Saturday showed how Mohol (40) after having lunch with his associates stepped out of his office when three of the guests suddenly whipped out country-made pistols and fired at him in a narrow lane.