The Kurar police and the crime branch have detained the person who was riding a two-wheeler on which Sawant was a pillion passenger at the time of the fatal attack in Malad on Sunday night.
Investigators looking for clues in the killing of Shiv Sena leader Sachin Sawant suspect the crime to be the fallout of his involvement in a slum rehabilitation project.
The Kurar police and the crime branch have detained the person who was riding a two-wheeler on which Sawant was a pillion passenger at the time of the fatal attack in Malad on Sunday night.
Sawant, a Sena deputy shakha pramukh, was associated with a project of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority at Gokul Nagar, where he lived. According to his brother Sanjay, the area has been divided into two parts. The 46-year-old was developing one half.
In 2009, Sawant had been attacked by three men over the SRA project, said Sanjay. While one of them was arrested, the police could not track the other two despite establishing their identities. "Those accused could be behind the attack. The project was stuck for past several years. The work has just begun and someone opposed to it might have attacked Sachin."
Police sources said Pragnath Varma, who was riding the two-wheeler, escaped unscathed. He is being questioned, they said. Sawant was returning home on Varma's Bullet and was 100 meters from his house when two men called out to him. As he stopped the bike, Varma told the police, one of the men went close to Sawant under the pretext of telling him something and shot him in the chest.
"We have got CCTV footage showing one of the attacker's face but it's blurry. With the help of witnesses we are trying to make a sketch of the accused," said a police officer. "We have brought few people for questioning as they were opposing the SRA project."
One detained
The police have detained the person on whose bike Sawant was riding pillion. Pragnath Varma escaped unscathed in the attack. He is being questioned, said police sources.
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