Contract was for Rs 30 lakh, say Bhanushali’s killers

AHMEDABAD: Nearly 40 days after former BJP MLA Jayanti Bhanushali was shot dead, the investigating agency on Sunday announced that they have arrested two alleged shooters named Shashikant Kamble and Ashraf Anwar Shaikh, both natives of Pune, from a Gujarat government guesthouse in Saputara on Saturday evening.

Ashish Bhatia, DGP, CID (Crime) and Railways, on Sunday said the shooters were given a Rs 30 lakh contract to kill Bhanushali by accused and former BJP leader Chhabil Patel. Rs 5 lakh was paid two months ago at a mall in Mumbai. Kamble and Shaikh confessed this during interrogation, Bhatia said.

Kamble had first come to Ahmedabad and Patel himself had taken him to Bhanushali’s house and then to Bhuj. But as the locations had too many people, they dropped the plan. After a few days, Kamble again came to Ahmedabad and Patel took him to his farmhouse where his stay was arranged, said a police official.

Finally, they decided to kill Bhanushali in the train between Bhuj and Samakhiyali. But as Patel had many legal cases pending against him, he told Kamble not to kill Bhanushali until the cases were disposed of. After a few days, Patel called up Kamble and asked him to come with a weapon to eliminate Bhanushali. This time, Shaikh arranged the weapon for Kamble and then the latter reached Bhuj on December 27.

“For around four days, Kamble stayed in the farmhouse and decided to kill Bhanushali on December 31. But as Kamble could not get Bhanushali’s seat number and coach number, they dropped the plan. However, Shaikh landed in Bhuj on the same day and they chalked out a new plan to kill Bhanushali on January 7,” said an official.

The duo then boarded the Sayajinagari express on January 7, from a 2-AC coach, entered Bhanushali’s coupe and shot him to death.

Shooters stayed at Kumbh, Vaishnodevi

Both the persons who shot Bhanushali fled to Mumbai after the murder, from where they went to Pune. After that, they both went to Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj around January 14. After staying some days in the Kumbh, they went to Vaishno Devi in Katara in Jammu and Kashmir. After staying there for some days, they again went to Kumbh Mela from where they came to Saputara and stayed in Toran hotel from where they were caught. However, it remains unexplained why the killers returned to Gujarat and put up at a government guesthouse when the search for them was the hottest here.

Who were the two mediators?

Officials of CID (crime) said that apart from the main accused persons Chhabil Patel, Manisha Goswami and Surjit Bhau, there were two other persons from Pune who mediated talks with shooters and those who conspired to kill Bhanushali. Though CID officials remain tight-lipped about the identity of those persons, they said the suspects were not associate with any political parties. DGP, CID (crime) and Railways, Ashish Bhatia said that they have initiated process for a red corner notice against Patel and refuted the former BJP leader’s claims of being innocent.