Pune: Nursery and property developer Bapu alias Dashrath Vitthal Shitole (46) and four members of his family, including two women, were arrested on Sunday, a day after realtor Kaluram Mahadev Gote (36) suffered bullet injuries in their home at Inamdar Vasti of Koregaon Mul village in Uruli Kanchan over a Rs40-lakh loan dispute. "Shitole's family members were arrested after it was established that they were part of the conspiracy and threatening the victim," Pankaj Deshmukh, superintendent of police (SP), Pune, said. A police team nabbed Shitole from a hideout in a farm behind the Uruli Kanchan railway tracks, he said.
Shitole's wife, Nilima (42), son Jignesh (19), and relatives Asha Bhosale (52) and Nikhil Bhosale (25) are other arrested suspects. "We have recovered a rifle, an imported pistol, 175 live rounds of rifle, 40 live cartridges of pistol, besides three barrels and two empty magazines. We are questioning Shitole over the possession of firearms and ammunition.
Shitole has cited self-defence and the need to tackle wild animal menace in farms as the purpose behind securing the pistol and the rifle. He claimed that he procured the rifle licence from the Pune police based on the residential address of his other home at Sopan Baug and the pistol licence from the Pune district collector based on the address of his Uruli Kanchan address," the SP said. "We are verifying his licence documents.
We will also check with the register entries of the ammunition shop(s) that sold th.