Political Feud, Cheating Case Under Spotlight In Probe Into Sena UBT Leader's Murder

Mumbai Police’s Crime branch on Friday took over the investigation of former Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator Abhishek Ghosalkar’s murder. Ghosalkar was shot by an infamous criminal Mauris Noronha in Mumbai’s IC colony over some personal dispute. So far no arrests have been made in connection with the case.

Mumbai police detained one person in connection with Ghosalkar’s killing on Friday. The accused has been identified as Mehul, an ANI report said.

Abhishek (40) — son of Thackeray faction leader Vinod Ghosalkar — was shot by Mauris when the two were live on Facebook. A senior police official told PTI that Ghosalkar was hit by four bullets.

Later, Mauris shot himself dead too, officials said. Notably, police found a pistol and a live cartridge from Mauris’ office.

The Crime Branch’s investigation will focus on several aspects, including how Noronha got the weapon and who provided it to him, if he was under the influence of alcohol at the time and the questioning of people who were present at the spot when Ghosalkar was fired upon, a police officer said.

The MHB Colony police registered a case after the murder, while Joint Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) Satya Narayan and DCP Datta Nalawade visited the spot for investigation. The case was transferred to the Mumbai Crime Branch late on Thursday.

WHAT WAS THE PERSONAL DISPUTE?

Mauris and Ghosalkar were apparently in a political feud for the last three years.

Mauris, popularly known as “Mauris Bhai”, had emerged as a local hero during the Covid-19 pandemic due to his social work. Seeing his popularity, Mauris wished to contest the elections, however, Ghosalkar was against this wish because his wife was the corporator from that constituency.

Additionally, Mauris suspected Ghosalkar’s hand in his recent arrest in a cheating case, due to which he had to spend 90 days in jail.

Their mutual friends were trying to resolve their conflict in a bid to patch up Ghosalkar and Mauris. The Facebook live was an initiative for the patch up, however it ended up with Mauris shooting at Ghosalkar.

A video of the incident, which took place at Mauris Noronha’s office in Borivali (West), showed Ghosalkar being shot in the abdomen and shoulder.