Pujari aides shoot at Shah Group man

Shooters from the Ravi Pujari gang shot at a site engineer of the Shah Group at its Vashi office on Monday. The injured has been identified as Sanjay Phatak, 35. 

According to the police, the incident occurred at 12.45pm when two members of the gang walked into Shah Signature in the busy sector 17 area and abused Prashant Dighe, a supervisor. They then fired at Phatak, two bullets hitting his stomach and a third his hand.    

Pathak was rushed to Fortis Hiranandani Hospital where he was operated upon. His condition is stated to be out of danger. 

After firing, the duo gave a piece of paper to Dighe and asked him to give it to his boss.  

“The miscreants claimed that they were from the Ravi Pujari gang and the piece of paper contained Pujari’s number,” said senior inspector Raosaheb Sardesai. 

The police found three empty shells at the site. “Prima facie, the weapon used seems to be a pistol,” said an officer.    

Navi Mumbai police commissioner Ahmad Javed, DCP (Zone I) Ashok Dudhe, DCP (Crime) DT Shinde, ACP (Vashi divison) Mujeeb Shaikh and other crime branch officers visited site of the incident.  

“I never got any extortion call from the gang before the incident. I got one after the firing. They called on the number put up on advertisement banners and said they were involved in the firing and asked the operator to inform me about it. Phatak is with our group since this project started,” said Nalin Shah, CMD of Shah Group.