PANAJI
Just 24 hours into the Bethora shooting incident, the police exposed the main perpetrator, his accomplices and the motive behind the crime. On Saturday, Ponda police arrested three individuals, among them the prime conspirator Devidas Masurkar, responsible for shooting Sachin Kuttikar in the early hours of Friday.
Pravin and Prabhat Paswan, both brothers originally from Bihar and working for Masurkar were the other two arrested accused.
Superintendent of Police Sunita Sawant said that Prabhat had taken a train journey to Patna via Mumbai to procure the firearm and ammunition, during the last week of December 2023.
The investigation indicates the murder plot had been planned for over two months, and what prompted Masurkar to commit the crime was suspicion of an illicit relationship between his wife and Kuttikar.
“Masurkar promised Rs 60,000 to the Paswan brothers to execute the murder. Of these, he paid Rs 45,000 after which Prabhat travelled to Patna to procure the illegal weapon and ammunition,” she said while addressing a press conference at Ponda police station on Saturday.
In his complaint, Kuttikar, a truck driver, informed the police that while en route to his workplace, he noticed two persons wearing helmets following him on a bike with the registration number MH-06. On reaching the Bethora junction, the assailants, in close proximity, fired at him. As Kuttikar’s bike was in motion, the victim was dragged around 100 meters before managing to stop the bike and collapsing on the ground, seeking help. The police were subsequently called and he was shifted to the hospital.
Sawant revealed that as the CCTV cameras were non-functional, they relied on other leads to ban the assailants. “We found that a complaint was filed wherein both Masurkar and Kuttikar had a fight. It was over the same issue after which the matter was resolved at the police station. Based on this, we summoned Masurkar today and after questioning, he was arrested,” she added. The accused had even carried a copy of his complaint against Kuttikar dated December 19, 2023 for the questioning on Saturday morning.
Sawant revealed that the two Bihar natives were also interrogated at length and they confessed to committing the crime. They were subsequently arrested. “One Pistol, magazine with 07 Live rounds were recovered at the instance of one of the accused persons at Arla Keri, which was used for the commission of crime. The Activa scooter used by the accused person during the commission of crime has been recovered,” she added.
