Five members of the Ravi Pujari gang, allegedly involved in case of firing inside filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt's office, have been arrested, a top police official said on Thursday.
Acting on a tip-off that a member of the gang would come to Ghatkopar to kill a hotelier, a police team laid a trap near Platinum Shopping Mall in northeast Mumbai and arrested the five men late Wednesday night.
Four imported pistols, an imported revolver, 24 bullets and some foreign SIM cards were found in the possession of Santosh Pujari (33), Ramesh Kanojiya (27), Arvind Devadiga alias Arun (34), Nityanand Shetty alias Nitya (22) and Sampat Kotian (23), Joint Commssioner of Police (Crime) Meeran Borwankar told reporters.
"The five men were arrested after two rounds were fired at the police team by the gangsters," Borwankar said.
They were allegedly involved in at least five cases of firing in this city and its suburbs, including the incident at Bhatt's office in June.
The filmmaker was not in the office at the time of the incident.
Another man named Suresh Pujari fled from the spot along with the driver of the car used in the getaway.
The gang used to target influential people in Mumbai and surrounding areas for extortion and instilled fear in their victims through sensational firing incidents, Borwankar said.
Santosh and Suresh Pujari, Kanojiya and Shetty were allegedly involved in the firing incident in Bhatt's office at Juhu.
Suresh is allegedly a middleman who was in touch with Ravi Pujari and gunmen along with two other middlemen, Borwankar said.