Underworld is back in action

With encounter specialists, top cops busy with 26/11-related inquiries...

With encounter specialists, top cops busy with 26/11-related inquiries...

The underworld is resurfacing after a lull in the aftermath of the 26/11 terror attacks with a series of shootouts in the past few weeks.

Police sources say the gangsters got a chance to regroup, as most of the encounter specialists and top cops were busy with the investigation into the attacks and the subsequent Pradhan Committee report.
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A glaring case in point is the attack on an interior designer's Khar shop yesterday afternoon.

GANGSTERS: Ramesh Upadhaya and Javed Kidda

The shop owner had been receiving threats from the Ravi Pujari gang for the past few days, a fact confirmed by Joint Commissioner of Police K L Prasad.
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He, however, passed off the attack as an isolated case and said it had nothing to do with the resurgence of the underworld.
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Pujaris are back

But the attack come barely a day after inspectors Sanjeev Bhole and Bhushan Belnekar gunned down gangster Hemant Pujari's right-hand man Anupkumar Mishra at Malad around 9.30 on Saturday evening.
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Two dreaded robbers were also gunned down by members of the police's anti-robbery squad last week hinting that the underworld is rearing its ugly head again.
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The police informed that the robbers had become very active in the past four months.

The Ravi Pujari gang, which was virtually wiped out early last year, is showing signs of regrouping with a series of threats to businessmen in recent weeks. Its rival, the Hemant Pujari gang, has also come out of hibernation, say sources.

Chhota Shakeel too

The killing of police informer Mohammed Irfan Khan alias Chindi at Bhindi Bazaar on April 3 has led the police to believe that members of the Chhota Shakeel gang are getting restless under pressure from Pakistani's ISI in recent weeks.

The arrest of Shakeel's top aide, sharp shooter Ismail Malbari, has also bared plots surrounding the murders of a few businessmen in Mumbai.

Crime Branch officials suspect ISI handlers are pressur- ing Shakeel and his associates to carry out threats in the city.

Police records indicate that Dawood Ibrahim and Shakeel, his second-in-command, have become active after hibernating for two years.

Monitoring of phone calls in the past few weeks has revealed that they have been ordering their henchmen to act.

Recent shootouts

>> Gangster Hemant Pujari's right-hand man Anupkumar Mishra was gunned down in an encounter on Saturday evening

>> Giridhar Pote and Ashok Jivan of the Ramesh Upadhaya gang were shot dead last week