On a tip-off, a special squad attached to crime branch (unit V) under senior inspector Praful Joshi positioned themselves at Waman Takuram Patil Marg, Chembur (west), on Tuesday evening. They had information that gangster Sharafat Ali Firast Ali (31) was to visit an accomplice in the area.

At around 4.30 pm, Ali was spotted in the area riding pillion. Ali fired three rounds when he saw the sleuths closing in on him, police claimed. Ali was injured in the subsequent exchange of fire. He was rushed to Shabdi Hospital, where he was declared dead before admission. Police said Ali's accomplice, however, managed to flee.

According to deputy commissioner of police (crime) Param Bir Singh, who is also responsible for decimating the Arun Gawli gang, Ali was named in at least seven serious offences, including firing at a policemanunder the jurisdiction of Agripada police station last year. There are some Arms Act cases against him too, Singh added.

A senior police officer said that though, by a strange coincidence, some Shakeel men have been killed in encounters in the last few days, it only drives home the point that nobody is above the law.

However, sources revealed police have turned on the heat on the Shakeel gang after the overseas don threatened a senior politician over the phone. Gawli too had suffered a similar fate after he challeged the Shiv Sena by floating the Akhil Bharatiya Sena (ABS) in 1996.

Six Shakeel men were killed in two separate encounters on May 11. Among them were Pradeep More, Vijay alias Bengali, Gulam Hashmi, Fizal Sheikh, and Imtiaz Sheikh.

Police now claim all five active factions of the Shakeel gang -- those of Asphaque Kalpe, Nilesh Kokam, Mastan Chand, Gulam Hashmi and Raju Gaikwad -- have been eliminated. Some of the gang's members who are still living are Vikram Parmar alias Mohammed Kanjari,Rashid Malbari, Zubair, Raju Gaikwad and Mastan Chand.