Man arrested for firing at auto driver

The Andheri police has arrested a history-sheeter for opening fire on and injuring a rickshaw driver who is also a Shiv Sena worker. The accused had been extradited from the city; however he came visiting due to a previous argument he had had with the victim.

The accused, identified as Amjad Sheikh, is a history-sheeter with nearly 20 cases registered against him at various police stations in the city, most of them of extortion. Sources said that Sheikh, who was expelled from the city for nearly a year, had some personal rivalry with the victim identified as Vithoba Sutrave. “Sheikh and Sutrave both stayed in the same locality in Andheri (east) and had been rivals for many years, even before Sheikh left the city. On Saturday, Sheikh visited the city and started enquiring about Sutrave. He traced Sutrave to the Gundavli area and as soon as he saw him, opened fire on him,” said an officer. “Five rounds were fired and one of them hit the victim’s abdominal area, causing him to collapse. Sheikh then fled the area and passers-by rushed Sutrave to a hospital,” he said.

The Andheri police, which started investigating the case, got a tip-off that Sheikh was hiding in Ratnagiri in one of his associates’ house. “We sent a team to Ratnagiri and arrested him on May 24 and brought him to the city,” said the official.