According to police, Patil, was proceeding towards Mumbai in a sky-blue Maruti van when the police team led by assistant police inspector Vijay Salaskar intercepted his vehicle opposite the Moraya Mangal Karyalaya in Thergaon around 3.15 pm. Patil himself was at the steering wheel.

Refusing to give in, Patil fired seven to eight rounds from his automatic pistol at the police. However, no one was injured as the policemen were wearing bullet-proof jackets. In a retaliatory action, the police fired at him.

Patil received four bullet injuries, two in his stomach, one on forehead and another on his hand. He died on the spot. The body was later brought to the Sassoon hospital for a post-mortem.

The police found a fake police identity card bearing the name Vasant Rama Devkar, with the designation as police constable. Patil also possessed a driving licence bearing the same name.

The police had received a tip-off that Patil was in the city and was proceeding towards Mumbai from the Pune-Bangalore highway via Wakad. After crossing the Dhaneshwar bridge at Thergaon, the police team intercepted his vehicle. The police suspect that the van (MH12 E 6378) was stolen from the city.

Patil, a resident of Kanjur marg in Mumbai, was wanted in connection with the murder of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh More, and murders of builders including Ram Punjabi, Vallabh Thakkar, Manish Shah, and Altaf Furniture.

The police team comprised police sub-inspector Satish Mayekar, PSI Sakpal, PSI Bhand, and constables Arun Jadhav, Krishna Nair, Pradeep Shinde, Vijay Salvi, Raju Rokade, Subhash Bhosale, Santosh Shetye, Rajaram Kalambre, and Suresh Bamne.

The team immediately alerted the crime branch in Mumbai. The rural police too reached the spot shortly after they were informed about the incident. As word spread about the killing, a huge crowd of curious onlookers gathered at the site.