TWO BOUNCERS HELD

Carbine seizure: Was neta’s son the target?

— S Ahmed Ali 

April 23,2014
Mumbai: Two bouncers of a five star hotel in Juhu—Deepak Padwal (27) and Amul Sawant (29), allegedly linked to fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari— were arrested with two weapons, incuding a carbine.
    A source said that it is being suspected that Pujari may have planned to target a politician’s 
son who is contesting Lok Sabha polls from the suburbs.
    The Anti Extortion Cell (AEC) of crime branch arrested the duo on Sunday night. A carbine and two magazines with eight live rounds, and a 7.65 mm country-made pistol and five magazines were seized from them. The police said that the accused have criminal records and that the hotel management too will be questioned.
    “We arrested them while they were trying to transport the weapons. We are trying to find out the motive and the source of the weapons. The arms will be sent for ballistic tests to find out if they have been used,” said Sadanand Date, joint commissioner (crime).
    Vinayak Vast, senior inspector said the accused are aides of two other bouncers, Kamal Rajput and Datta Vagre, who were arrested by the Mangalore police for a shootout in Urva. “The AEC with Mangalore police, had nabbed Rajput and Vagre. The weapons seized on Sunday were reportedly moved at the behest of Rajput, who is in Mangalore jail,” said officer Sudhir Dalvi.