Five arrested in Jaykar murder case

Five arrested in Jaykar murder case
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

JANUARY 16: The Mumbai police today claimed to have solved the jigsaw puzzle surrounding the murder of Dr Vasant Jaykar by arresting five accused. The gunning down of Jaykar, a well-known cardiologist outside his clinic in Khar, on January 11 had created a furore in the city for the past five days. The police claimed to have been clueless on the first two days.

What seemed to be a herculean investigative task, was accomplished in perfect police manual style with five suspects being arrested in less than five days. Not only were the accused arrested from their residence, but the weapons too were recovered with live rounds for forensic examination.

Unravelling the mystery, the Commissioner of Police M N Singh said the murder of Dr Jaykar was a fallout of a deceased patient's relative seeking revenge. It is believed that prime suspect Deepak Savani wanted to vent his anger against Jaykar for the death of his younger brother Bali, who was suffering from cirrhosis, a chronic desease of the liver in February, '99. Singh added.

The police during investigations learnt that Deepak Savani had requested a former employee, Ajay Kumar Gupta (24) to help kill Dr Jaykar. Gupta in turned hired Dharmendra Yadav alias Neta, a gangster from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Yadav (26) was allegedly involved in the murder of one Munna Singh at Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh and had sought safe haven in the city after the killing, claimed the police.

Yadav in turn had hired Mukesh Kumar Singh orginally from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh currently holed up at Vasai. The other shooter Jung Bahadur Yadav hailed from Jaunpur and was living at Kandivali.

Police investigations have revealed that Mukesh Singh and Jung Bahadur Yadav had carried out a recce of the clinic located at 12 th Road Khar on January 10. When Dr Jaykar asked them what they were doing at the dispensary, they allegedly told him that they were waiting for a patient.

The two returned the following day and lay in wait for Dr Jaykar in the afternoon. The two then accosted the doctor when he was coming down the flight of stairs and pumped bullets from close range around 12.45 pm on January 11.

While Dr Jaykar died before admission to Bhabha Hospital, the two shooters escaped in an autorickshaw after the incident.

The police today claimed that they managed to arrest Mukesh Singh from his residence at Vasai and his accomplice Yadav from Kandivali. They have also recovered the two 9 mm pistols and five rounds from the shooters.

Dr Jaykar's brutal murder had created panic among the city's medical fraternity. Rumours were rife that the killing was actually a fallout of failed negotiations for a five-star hotel in the western suburbs.