Mumbai ATS team quizzes Godara’s associate in Jaipur
A three-member team of Mumbai Anti-Terrorist Squad on Monday interrogated an associate of gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Rohit Godara in Jaipur in connection with the firing at Salman Khan’s residence in Mumbai’s Bandra, said the official familiar with the development.
“The ATS personnel came to Jaipur’s Sodala police station to interrogate Ritik Boxer on Monday. Boxer was brought to Sodala jail from Ajmer on a production warrant. They also inquired about shooters Rohit Rathore, Nitin Fouji, and other active gang members from Rajasthan police,” said an official familiar with the development.
The officer said that the development comes days after the Mumbai Crime Branch asked the Rajasthan police to direct all the district police superintendents to “keep an eye on the movements of the associates of Bishnoi and Godara” following the firing incident on Sunday.
Two bike-borne men had shot at Khan’s first-floor apartment during the early hours of Sunday Bandra, and also fired four rounds in the air before fleeing, said officials.
A senior police official said: “The ATS team from Mumbai had come to understand the network of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and his close associate Rohit Godara in Rajasthan”. He said, “The Bishnoi gang is not organised and they operate by locally hiring people, especially youth. The team from Mumbai asked about who all are working with Bishnoi and Godara, the number of their associates arrested and the ones absconding. The state police official informed them that in the last year, 80 people associated with the gangsters and wanted
in different crimes have been arrested.” Soon after the firing incident, Bishnoi’s brother Anmol Bishnoi had claimed responsibility for the incident in a social media post.
The Bishnoi gang has been accused of several murders and extortion rackets over the years including the murder of Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moosewala on May 29 last year.
The gang also took the responsibility of the murder of Shri Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena chief Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi in Jaipur on December 5. “Mumbai ATS also inquired about the two shooters Fouji and Rathore who were hired to shoot Gogamedi by Bishnoi gang,” said the officer.
The official said that the AntiGangster Task Force (AGTF) earlier on Sunday arrested two active members of Rohit Godara’s gang, named Surendra Singh and Rajesh Zoya alias Zoya Sarkar from Sikar.
The official added that the Mumbai ATS team also went to Haryana and Gujarat to inquire about the members of the gang in those states.
“So far, no connection to their members in Rajasthan was found in the latest case of firing at Khan’s place. But, the police are, yet, keeping an eye on the members,” said the officer.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai police on Monday arrested the two shooters Vicky Gupta (24) and Sagar Paul (21) from Gujarat in connection with the case.