Unable to find the prerequisites for slapping the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), the Mumbai police’s crime branch is now trying to use multiple-murder accused Vijay Palande’s connection to gangster Santosh Shetty to invoke the stringent act against him.
Investigations so far have already revealed that Palande, as well as his associates Dhananjay Shinde and Manoj Gajkosh, have worked with Shetty in the past. Palande himself went to Bangkok to meet the gangster and also sent Shinde and Gajkosh there to work for him. Shetty, who was deported earlier this year, is already in the crime branch’s custody.
The crime branch is now probing if Shetty’s gang was in any way involved in the murders of Arun Tikku and Karan Kakkar.
“There has to be some connection between Shetty and this case for us to be able to invoke the act, and we are exploring that angle,” said Deven Bharti, additional commissioner of police, crime branch.
The police was earlier trying to find at least two chargesheets against Palande, which would have justified the invoking the MCOCA.
Meanwhile, the crime branch on Thursday booked model Simrin Sood in the Tikku murder. She had earlier been arrested for her alleged role in Kakkar’s murder, as she was the one who had introduced Kakkar and Palande.
“Both murders are interlinked, and Sood’s involvement has come forth during investigations. We can not comment on this before we investigate further,” Mr Bharti said.
Sood is currently in judicial custody and the crime branch might soon seek her custody again, this time in the Tikku murder case. Meanwhile, Gajkosh and Shinde were remanded to further police custody till May 10.
The crime branch has also learnt that Sood had gone to Bangkok for five to six days immediately after Kakkar’s murder. However, when asked about her trip during interrogation, she has claimed that it was only a shopping trip.