Police arrest history-sheeter

Sanjay Raut, (centre) Mayur Shinde and Sunil Raut

The Kanjurmarg police have arrested Mayur Shinde, a history-sheeter, in connection with the threat calls to Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut. The leader had received threat calls on June 8 from an unknown number. After an investigation, the cops had arrested four people. During their interrogation, Shinde's name cropped up. Shinde is reportedly a close associate of the MP's brother, MLA Sunil Raut, and he had recently joined the Nationalist Congress Party. Rival parties have claimed the threat call was an attempt to restore police security to the MP.

On June 8 around 4 pm, Sunil Raut received a call on his mobile phone from an unknown number. The caller abused and threatened to kill him and his brother Sanjay Raut. Anant Patade, a party worker, had filed a complaint with the Kanjurmarg police following which an FIR was registered against unknown people.

The police started the investigation and two individuals were picked up from Shivaji Nagar. They have been identified as Rizwan Zulfikar Ansari, 24, an auto driver, and Mohammed Shahid Jabbar Ansari, 32, a resident of Nerul. The investigation revealed that Mohammed Shahid had told Rizwan to buy a SIM card and hand it over to him.

Mayur Shinde (in blue T-shirt) at the Mulund court. Pic/Rajesh Gupta

During further interrogation, it was revealed that Mohammed Shahid handed over the SIM card to a person named Akash Patel, 29, also an auto driver. Patel told the police that he had then handed over the SIM card to Munna alias Mohammed Munna Mushtaq Sheikh, 38, a Dharavi resident. Munna had made the calls to Raut and threatened him. The voice in the call recording is his, Patel confirmed.

"The accused told us that the call was made to the MP and MLA as the state government led by Shiv Sena-BJP had reduced the security cover of the former. To help him get back the protection, he made the threat call. Munna said that he was asked by Mayur Shinde to make the calls," said an official.

Based on the information, cops started to search for Mayur Shinde and he was found at Vartak Nagar, Thane. He was arrested on June 14 and produced in court on Thursday. He has been remanded in police custody till June 19. "During interrogation of the accused we got the links leading towards him (Shinde) and based on that, he has been arrested," said DCP (Zone 7) Purushottam Karad.

BJP leaders had alleged that Shinde is close to the Rauts and the call was made on their instructions. Responding to this, Sanjay Raut tweeted, "This person (Mayur Shinde) is with BJP or the Shinde faction. People who were close in past are being used to frame us. This has been done after the failed attempt of gangster Raja Thakur. Some issues are sensitive".

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Sanjay Raut@rautsanjay61

'This person (Mayur Shinde) is with BJP or the Shinde faction. People who were close in past are being used to frame us. This has been done after the failed attempt of gangster Raja Thakur. Some issues are sensitive'