Pune: A special court on Tuesday extended till Sept 30 the police custody of 15 people arrested in connection with the murder of former NCP corporator Vanraj Andekar. Police have invoked sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against the accused. Assistant commissioner of police (crime) Rajendra Mulik produced the 15 people before the court following the end of their initial remand and filed a report seeking an extension for seven days.
Special public prosecutor Vilas Patare said the questioning of the accused was essential because the police had recovered four sharp weapons, eight country-made pistols, and 13 live rounds from them. Patare submitted that the police are in the process of tracing the source of weapons smuggled from a place in Madhya Pradesh. The police are also trying to ascertain the identity of the persons responsible for supplying the weapons to the accused, he said.
Investigations had revealed that some of the accused, armed with weapons, had conducted a recce before eliminating Vanraj, Patare said. The prosecution pleaded with the court to give the investigating officer sufficient time to collect evidence relating to conspiracy meetings and the crime syndicate run by accused Somnath Gaikwad and others. It is the police's case that a festering gang rivalry between Vanraj's father, Suryakant alias Bandu Andekar (68), and the latter's former aide Gaikwad, combined with Vanraj's property dispute with his two sisters who are married to the K.