Mumbai, Police on Thursday arrested another person in connection with the firing at filmmaker Rohit Shetty’s residence in Mumbai, and claimed that the accused were acting on the instructions of Shubham Lonkar, an absconding member of Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
Asaram Fasale, a resident of Pune, is the fifth person arrested by Mumbai Police in the case. A court remanded him in police custody till February 11, and extended the custody of the other four accused till the same date.
Fasale is suspected to have provided the weapon used in the crime, officials said.
At least five rounds were fired at the first floor of Shetty’s nine-storey building in Juhu area at 12.45 am on Sunday. One bullet struck the glass of a gym inside the building.
The shooter in the case is yet to be arrested.
All the accused persons were in contact with Shubham Lonkar, who has been shown as a wanted accused in the case, police said.
Lonkar is also wanted in the cases related to the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique and a firing outside actor Salman Khan’s Bandra residence.
Police produced Fasale before the court along with four others whose initial police remand ended on Thursday.
Aditya Gayaki , Siddharth Yenpure , Samarth Pomaji and Swapnil Sakat were arrested on Sunday. A pistol, three magazines and an air gun were seized from one of the accused.
All the accused were acting on Lonkar’s instructions, police told the magistrate’s court, seeking their maximum custody.
Advocate Archana Mane, appearing for Swapnil Sakat, said he was accused of being in touch with Lonkar through Signal app, but his custody was not required as the police had already seized his phone. Advocate Ajinkkya Mirdul, who represented Gayaki, Yenpure and Pomaji, contended that they had only sold a motorbike, and had no idea how it was going to be used.
Additional chief judicial magistrate V R Patil, after hearing all the submissions, said the offence appeared to be serious in nature.
There was a criminal conspiracy and the case diary showed progress in the investigation, the judge said, adding that further probe was needed. Also, as Fasale was arrested only on Thursday, joint interrogation was necessary, the judge said.
The court granted police the custody of the accused till February 11.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.