Mumbai: A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA) court on Friday convicted and sentenced seven persons in connection with a 2012 attempt to murder case.
The accused had attacked and brutally assaulted a developer, causing grievous injuries to his head as he refused to pay them monthly five lakh rupees as extortion to complete his SRA project in the Antop Hill area. The accused claimed they were members of the Chhota Rajan gang.
Special public prosecutor Dilip Shah said that MCOCA Judge Shridhar Bhosle had convicted and sentenced them to different periods of rigorous imprisonment ranging from seven to ten years based on the roles played by the convicts in the crime.
The court had also imposed a fine of more than Rs 10 lakh and Rs 5 lakh on each of the accused. Those convicted were Rohit alias Pappi Chavan, Prakash alias Vicky Bha-tkal, Vijay Kedare, Chan-drakant Dhage, Aarogya Swamy Paul, Krushna alias Kari Shitkhandor, and Anil More.
The prosecution case was that at about 5.15pm on October 4, 2012, More, Pappi and Bhatkal assaulted the developer with a chopper when he was standing in front of his office. When the brother of the developer tried to save him, the assailants threatened him with dire consequences and fled from the scene.
According to the police, Kedare is the head of the organised crime syndicate and had conspired and executed the crime while he was out on parole, as he was undergoing life imprisonment in Nashik jail.
