MUMBAI: Running a matka (gambling) business, orchestrating murders to look like accidents, conspiring with criminals and giving contracts to kill rivals to take revenge, and a battle for control of the matka business... what the Bhagat family is allegedly all about.
City crime branch on Monday arrested a gang of five, including the 69-year-old brother of matka king, the late Suresh Bhagat, for planning to kill matka queen Jaya Chedda and her sister Asha Bhatt, to avenge his brother’s killing.
Unit IX, led by senior inspector Nandkumar Gopale, arrested Vinod, the elder brother of Suresh, Mohammed Javed Ansari (41), Ramvir Sharma (39), Mohammed Shabbir Darji (31) and Maqsood Qureshi (35). The conspiracy was allegedly hatched by Ahmedabad businessman Bashir Suleman Baigani, who is settled in Manchester, UK. Baigaini has been shown as wanted accused.
Police alerted Jaya and Asha and advised them to be extra cautious. Jaya, prime accused in seven murders, including her husband Suresh in 2008, in an “orchestrated” accident in Alibaug, is out on bail on medical grounds. She was convicted to life imprisonment.
Vinod, who stays at Malabar Hill, has business interests in Mumbai and Gujarat, and was arrested in 2008 for allegedly orchestrating an attack on himself for police protection.
“We recently received a tipoff that shooters have come from UP and were planning to kill a woman. We worked on the information and arrested a person from Khar Danda, and recovered two country-made weapons, six live cartridges and a photo of Jaya. During interrogation he admitted that they were given a contract to kill Jaya and her sister for Rs 60 lakh,” said Milind Bharambe, joint commissioner of police (crime). Police are verifying if the conspiracy was to take revenge or to take over the business.
Inspector Asha Kore, Ambande and Ramdas Kadam arrested the three other accused.
“We are probing if the murder was a fallout of the matka business,” said Akbar Pathan, deputy commissioner of police (crime).