Thane: The pistol used to kill Shiv Sena's Manpada vibhag pramukh Pradeep Purnnekar was bought in Uttar Pradesh, a senior police officer said, in a probe still hunting for a second pistol and all three choppers used in the attack.
Accused Santosh Kanojia alias Dalli and Amit Singh alias Paplu bought the two pistols about five years ago, each for ₹15,000, from UP, the officer said. Both men had land disputes in their villages in the state, which police say is why they bought the weapons. One pistol was recovered from the Kanhala sanctuary; the second has not been found.
Sources said the two pistols were bought in 2021, again at ₹15,000 each. The land disputes in the accused men's villages are what the probe points to as the reason for the purchase. Three choppers used in the murder are also untraced.
Until the weapons are found, the chain of those involved in the crime will not be complete, the police probe makes clear. That is what makes tracing the arms the probe team's big task.
Police have called Rajendra Shinde, husband of former Sena mayor Monakshi Shinde, for questioning for a fifth time on Wednesday (21 October). He has been questioned four times so far, for a total of 29 hours, and was made to sit in front of the accused during questioning, sources said.
Twenty-two days after the murder, with the probe seen to be moving slowly, all the Aagri-Koli Bhoomiputra organisations in Thane met state forest minister Ganesh Naik and demanded a CBI inquiry. They gave Naik a memorandum.