Nigdi firing: Cops bare the truth

PUNE, July 2: The Nigdi police who were baffled over the mysterious incident of firing in which a youth was injured last Sunday have succeed...

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PUNE, July 2: The Nigdi police who were baffled over the mysterious incident of firing in which a youth was injured last Sunday have succeeded in unraveling the plot contrived by the youth and his friends themselves.

The injured youth Sanjay Marasnale (19) in his earlier statement to the police said that three unidentified persons fired at him when he and his friends Sayaji Bhosale and Riyaj Pinjari were walking near the Mhalsakant school. The police during their interrogation were unable to find the motive of the suspected assailants. The police had sought to know if Marasnale was involved with any gang or whether the incident was a fallout of a love affair. The said firing had occured in the busy chowk and was reportedly witnessed by several people, Marasnale had said in his statement. Even Bhosale and Pinjari who were accompanying Sanjay had given the same statments.

Sanjay, a resident of Panchataranagar in Akurdi, was doing a vocational course at ITI Aundh. The police interrogated some of his friends there and learnt that his conduct at the institution was not proper. The police later received a tip-off that the firing incident had occured due to an enmity among the youths themselves. The police interrogated Sayaji Bhosale again and after much pursuation he came out with the details of the incident.

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Bhosale said he had first visited the house of Riyaj Pinjari and they later went to Sanjay’s house. Sanjay was reportedly furious over why Bhosale had met Pinjari first. The trio later went to the house of their friend Tushar Shinde, at Gurudevnagar in Akurdi around 8.00 p.m. Shinde was not at home but the three got the house keys from the neighbors. As they entered the house, Sanjay took out a revolver and showed it to Bhosale and Pinjari. Bhosale felt that this was his `chance’ to take revenge against Sanjay as he had abused him. He shot Sanjay in the right shoulder.

Pinjari cautioned Bhosale not to fire again even as Sanjay, who was bleeding said that they should settle the dispute and destroy all the evidence. They also decided to fabricate a story for the police to explain away the incident.

The police who visited the house of Tushar Shinde found that the blood stains on the walls had been washed. They also seized the countrymade revolver which had been given to Marasnale by his friend Gautam Bagade seven months back.

PI Ashok Gaikwad said that Bhosale, Pinjari, Bagade and his friend Santosh Khairnar have been arrested under the charges of attempted murder, connivance in destruction of evidence, and the Arms Act.