Mumbai: The Mumbai crime branch will probe the possibility of allegiance of Pasha gang towards D gang or any of its members and hence they will seek their custody from Nashik police, who have arrested them in connection with an arms cache case. The crime branch’s anti-extortion cell (AEC) is probing into the case of vehicle theft that took place in Amboli for concealing the arms.
One of the suspicions is that the cache of arms was being brought to Mumbai for gang related activities. The arrested accused have however maintained that the arms were meant for using them to commit extortion and to establish their gang by terrorizing. They have also claimed that they wanted to sell some of the weapons too for making money to resurrect their gang.
Those in crime branch’s custody have cursory details as their main role was to assist in remodelling of the vehicle and is stealing the weapons. The cache includes two dozen riffles, 19 guns, two foreign made revolvers and over 4000 live bullets.
Those arrested by the Nashik police are Bashruddin alias Sukka, the head of the gang, Nasti Badshah, Nagesh Bansode and SA Khan. Meanwhile, the AEC has arrested Sanjay Salunke and Salman Badshah alias Bada Badshah in car theft case. Three more accused were detained by the AEC from Sewri, who also had a role in making illegal alterations in the Bolero SUV, officials said.
“The Pasha (also known as Pathani) gang members are in the custody of Nashik police. We would seek their custody to probe the possibility that the operation was a step to show allegiance to either Dawood Ibrahim or some other gang member,” said a crime branch officer.
Unconfirmed reports of alleged power struggle in the D gang was never authenticated by the police and hence the same happens to be one of the factors under investigation. Investigators are expecting for some leads on the d-gang by questioning Sukka and others arrested with the weapons by the Nashik police.
First arrests took place from the Chandwad toll plaza after the gang members had a squabble at a petrol pump in Nashik.
