Gangster held,cops suspect SIMI links

Acting on a tip-off,a team of Pimpri police team nabbed Dadhi from the Laltopi Nagar area on Friday evening. The police have seized a pistol,two live cartridges and a mobile phone,all worth Rs 54,000,from his possession. Sources said Dadhi’s mobile phone carried some suspicious messages. He had saved some numbers in the mobile phone in code languages.

According to police records,Dadhi was involved in more than 11 crimes,including a murder at Hadapsar in 2007. Police inspector Nandkumar Pinjan produced Dadhi before the Pimpri court on Saturday.

Pinjan sought his police custody for seven days for carrying out detailed investigations into the case. Defence lawyer Sushil Mancharkar,however,argued that police custody was not required. Mancharkar said the police have already recovered a pistol and two cartridges from Dadhi and they got sufficient time for interrogating him after his arrest. The court,however,remanded Dadhi in police custody for two days.

Police authorities said Dadhi had completed a diploma in civil engineering from Wadia College. He had grown his beard during the college days and he was known to his friends as Asif Dadhi since then. Police sources said Dadhi,who is well versed in Marathi,Hindu,English and Urdu,is a reticent person. He was very wary about sharing his mobile phone numbers.

Dadhi was also on the radar of the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) as it is suspected that the radical Islamic groups are using Dadhi for recruiting new members. Police said Dadhi,a resident of Morwadi in Pimpri,was active in real estate business and is now showing interest in a big construction site in Kondhwa area.

It was also learnt that Dadhi is married and has two daughters. His father and brother are based in Canada.