The Mumbai Crime Branch on Tuesday produced five accused arrested in connection with the firing incident outside filmmaker Rohit Shetty’s residence before a Mumbai court. The court remanded all five accused to police custody till February 11.
Presenting its arguments, the police said that four accused had been arrested earlier in the case, from whose possession a pistol, an air gun and three magazines were recovered. The police identified Shubham Lonkar as the main accused in the case.
Investigators told the court that the accused had deleted the Signal messaging application from their mobile phones, and further police custody was required to recover and examine deleted chats crucial to the investigation.
The fifth accused, Asaram, who was arrested
on Tuesday, was found in possession of three pistols, the police said.
Opposing the police plea, lawyers representing accused numbers 2, 3 and 4 argued that their alleged role was limited to providing a vehicle and that they had no knowledge of what transpired after the vehicle was handed over. They contended that four days of police custody was sufficient.
The defence further argued that while police claimed the need to examine chats, custodial interrogation was unnecessary since the accused’s mobile phones were already in police possession.
Earlier, the Mumbai Crime Branch had produced the four previously arrested accused as their remand ended on Tuesday, seeking an extension of custody. The newly arrested fifth accused was also presented before the court the same day.
All five accused are residents of Pune. Those produced before the court were identified as:
Aditya Gnaneshwar Gaiki (19), Siddharth Deepak Yenpure (20), Samarth Shivsharan Pomaji (18), Swapnil Bandu Sakat (23) and Asaram Fasale
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