Rajkot: A contract killer whose allegiance lies with the Dawood Ibrahim gang and three others were arrested at the city’s outskirts on Saturday, allegedly on their way to kill a Jamnagar-based businessman. They are said to have been working at the behest of the Pakistan-based brother of the underworld don, Anees, police said.
Anees Ibrahim, who looks after the illegal business of Dawood, hired Ramdas Rahane and others to carry out the contract killing for Rs100,000 (Dh5,501), police said.
“Rahane and his three accomplices were coming to Rajkot in a private bus to kill the businessman, who runs a construction company in Jamnagar,” according to Rajkot city’s Deputy Commissioner of Police S.R. Odedara, who led the team that nabbed the shooters.
The businessman has been identified as Ashfaq Khatri, who is associated with the shipping business.
“We kept a close vigil near Kuvadava town on [the] Rajkot-Ahmedabad national highway, as we had received [information] that four suspicious persons [were] travelling in a private bus from Maharashtra,” he said.
“While searching the bus, four of them were spotted [acting] in a suspicious manner and on searching their luggage, a pistol, six live cartridges, two knives and fake number plates as well as vehicle registration numbers for [Gujarat and Maharashtra-registered vehicles] were found,” the DCP said.
“During the initial interrogation, we learnt that Anees Ibrahim had given a contract to kill the businessman to Ramdas for a payment of [Rs100,000],” Odedara said.
“Ramdas is a contract killer of the D-Gang and is facing several criminal charges in Maharashtra,” the official added.
Rajkot police commissioner Anupamsinh Gehlot, who supervised the entire operation said the hired killers “had planned to steal a vehicle after reaching Jamnagar, change the number plates with fake ones which they were carrying and execute the crime, before returning to Maharashtra,”
Ramdas is believed to be involved in many shooting incidents in Mumbai. His name also cropped up in a shooting incident at the office of builder Manish Dholakiya in 2011 in which a guard was killed. He has spent some time in jail as well.
“We are verifying the claims made by the [would-be killers] during initial interrogation,” Odedara said.
The police have, however, not revealed names of the other three people nabbed in the raid.
Meanwhile, a Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) will also interrogate the suspects.
