During the investigation, police arrested Potphode, Garje, Wagh and Shinde in the first week of March, and recovered 13 pistols and four cartridges. (Express Photo) Pune police have arrested seven persons and recovered 17 pistols and 13 live cartridges from their possession.
The accused — Hanumant Ashok Golhar (24), Pradip Vishnu Gaikwad (25), Arvind Shriram Potphode (38), Shubham Vishwanath Garje (25), Rushikesh Sudhakar Wagh (25), Amol Bhausaheb Shinde (25)—belong to Ahmednagar district, while Sahil Tulshiram Chandere (21) is from Susgaon in Pune, according to the police.
Police nabbed accused Golhar and Gaikwad on February 25, and recovered a pistol and two cartridges from them. Hanumant was also found to be wanted in a Rs 2.8-crore robbery case in Navi Mumbai in 2017, and in an illegal arms seizure case.
During the investigation, police arrested Potphode, Garje, Wagh and Shinde in the first week of March, and recovered 13 pistols and four cartridges. Police said the four accused, allegedly linked to Hanumant, were buying and selling illegal firearms. Meanwhile, on March 9, a crime branch team arrested Chandere from Mangalwar Peth area and recovered four pistols and 9 cartridges from him.
“We have seized a total of 17 pistols, 13 cartridges, a four wheeler and cell phones, all worth Rs 23.81 lakh . The seized firearms were procured from Madhya Pradesh,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (crime) Ramnath Pokle.