25 February,2011 09:44 AM IST | | Salil Urunkar
After murder of Baba Bodke gang member, senior cops say it is 'disputable' whether crimes that are a fallout of rivalry involving organised crime gangs are preventable
Crimes of passion that are committed on the spur of the moment may be difficult to prevent, but what about crimes that are a fallout of rivalry involving notorious gangs? After all, the police pride themselves on being well informed about everything that is brewing in the world of organised crime.
But if the Crime Branch is to be believed, prevention of crimes involving gang rivalry is also difficult.
When eight suspects yesterday shot dead Mauli Shinde, a 26-year-old man identified as a member of the Baba Bodke gang, the police were clueless about who could be behind the attack.
It was only later that investigations revealed the murder to be the outcome of rivalry between members of the gang, and this fact raises a pertinent question. Should not the police get a tip-off from their informers if they are as good at intelligence gathering as they claim to be?
When asked about the Shinde murder, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Anant Shinde said, "We will check if the crime was preventable. We will have to look at whether the attack was pre-planned or not. If it was pre-planned, our anti-organised crime cell would have been in a position to prevent it."
He added that it was "disputable" whether such crimes can actually be prevented or not.
All the suspects in the Shinde murder case have a criminal past.
Additional Commissioner of Police (South Region) Prabhat Kumar said that eight suspects, including prime accused Shrinath Pardeshi (26), were arrested.
"We are thinking of invoking the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the suspects.
They are part of the Baba Bodke gang based in Pune and had a past rivalry with the deceased gangster," said Kumar. "The accused had also been externed for a period of six to eighteen months."
