In order to ensure that multiple murder accused Vijay Palande does not get off lightly this time around, the crime branch has gone all out to try and slap the stringent MCOCA against him. Palande already has one chargesheet filed against him, and one more is enough to seal his fate.
“We are examining our options of invoking MCOCA in this case. Palande had jumped parole in 2006 and fled to Bangkok. A chargesheet has been filed in that case. We are now checking when the chargesheeet of the 1998 murder case in which Palande was convicted was filed. We are also checking if there is any other case in which Palande has been chargesheeted,” said a senior crime branch officer.
Palande had murdered Air India engineer Anup Das and his father Swaraj Ranjan in 1998. For invoking MCOCA in any case, there must be two chargsheets filed against at least one of the accused in last ten years to establish organized crime. “We believe that Palande who was also a member of Santosh Shetty gang operated an organised crime syndicate where cold blooded murders are planned following which the gang members execute the same,” said the officer.
Palande and his two associates Manoj Gajkosh and Dhananjay Shinde have been arrested for the murder cases of Karan Kakkar and Arunkumar Tikku. Palande’s wife Simrin Sood has been arrested for forging documents to get a flat on lease with Palande but the police is also probing whether she was involved in the murders as well.