According to the CBI, who has filed charges against the boy’s grandfather, the elderly individual purportedly hired the gangster in 2009 to assassinate Ajay Bhosale of Shiv Sena.
The previous Sunday, the 17-year-old son of a well-known builder in Pune appeared before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) for driving while intoxicated and hitting two individuals. During the hearing, his grandfather provided bail surety and pledged that the minor would reform his behavior.
As per the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has filed charges against the boy’s grandfather, he allegedly engaged Chhota Rajan in 2009 to carry out the assassination of Bhosale. The grandfather, whose identity is protected due to the minor accused involved, initially tasked the gangster to mediate in a property dispute with his brother. Rajan then contacted Bhosale, who had ties to the brother, to intervene. However, Bhosale, engaged in the 2009 assembly elections from Wadgaon-Sheri on a Sena ticket, did not intervene. Suspecting Bhosale’s allegiance to his brother, the grandfather purportedly instructed Rajan to eliminate Bhosale. A hired gunman shot at Bhosale’s car in Koregaon Park, but the bullet hit his driver instead, leaving Bhosale unharmed.
In 2009, Chhota Rajan approached me to mediate in a property dispute between two brothers, one of whom was the grandfather of the teenager involved. When I declined, the builder allegedly contracted Rajan, leading to an attack on me on October 11, 2009,” Bhosale told HT on Wednesday. An FIR was filed with the Bund Garden police station, omitting the builder’s name. Later, the CBI took over the investigation and uncovered the assassination plot against Bhosale, tracing it back to the builder, renowned in Pune for his upscale residential projects in the eastern parts of the city. In the CBI’s charge sheet, the builder was listed as the sixth accused alongside Chhota Rajan.
As per the charge sheet, the builder communicated with Rajan through his associate Vijay Tambat. In its 2020 submission to the CBI court in Mumbai, the agency stated, “Chhota Rajan, acting on the builder’s instructions, instructed Mohammed Saqib Shahnawaz Alam Khan (one of the assailants) to shoot him (Bhosale) to pressure the estranged family member into yielding the desired share to his brother, fearing he might be the next target.”
Despite most defendants in the case being arrested, the builder obtained anticipatory bail and, like his grandson, avoided imprisonment. Nonetheless, he remains implicated in the case due to his ties with the underworld and for allegedly contracting Chhota Rajan.
When questioned about the builder’s links to the underworld on Wednesday, Maharashtra Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis informed the media that the police would thoroughly investigate all aspects of the family’s behavior and take appropriate action based on their findings.
