Contract killing case: MBMC man lived because killer had not been paid full amount, say sources

RTI activist Raju Vishwakarma; (right) Amit Sinha, who was riding the bike at the time of shooting in September this year

The Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation's (MBMC) Executive Engineer Deepak Khambit was not killed, as the shooter had not received the money he was promised. MBMC's former junior engineers Shree Krishna Mohite and Yashwant Deshmukh, who were arrested earlier this month, had given a supari of Rs 20 lakh to kill Khambit. They had taken the help of an RTI activist, Raju Vishwakarma, who had put them in touch with contract killers - Amit Sinha and Ajay Singh.

Mohite and Deshmukh agreed to pay an advance of Rs 10 lakh, and handed over the money to Vishwakarma, who acted as a middleman between the duo and the contract killers, police sources told mid-day. However, the RTI activist paid only Rs 2 lakh to Sinha, who then gave merely Rs 8,000 to Singh - the man who shot at Khambit, sources added. Sinha was riding the bike when they attacked Khambit.

Police sources said that Singh was angry about the payment, and intentionally fired at the glass of Khambit's car instead of shooting him dead. Having learnt that Vishwakarma kept R8 lakh of their promised money, the duo has threatened to teach him a lesson when they are all out of jail. Besides the former MBMC employees, others had also been arrested in the case.

Police said that Singh used to work as a labourer, but there was no work due to the Covid restrictions. Sinha lured him with the promise of a job and money. Singh had never fired a gun, so Sinha taught him at deserted places in Mira Bhayandar, police added. During the interrogation, both the former MBMC engineers confessed to the crime, but claimed that in August they had told Vishwakarma to call off the hit. But Vishwakarma went ahead with him, as he also had a beef with Khambit.