MUMBAI, May 13: The crime branch of the Mumbai police has achieved a breakthrough in the Sessions Court shootout case with the arrest of contract killers belonging to the Dubai-based Dawood Ibrahim's gang.

The shootout had occurred on November 8, 1996, when Chhota Rajan's top aide Sadhu Shetty, and other gang members were seated in a police van opposite the Sessions Court after the trial.

They were fired upon by an AK 56 rifle and a pistol, with the intention of killing Sadhu Shetty, who escaped unscathed. Acting on a tip-off, crime branch sleuths arrested Alimiya Hamja Mujawar Sayed, Abdul Gani Majawar and Mohammed Sayed Samiullah Qureshi at J J Hospital Junction near Byculla. The police recovered an imported revolver with six live rounds, 20 live rounds of AK 56 rifle and a Star pistol. The accused confessed that they were contract killers for the Dubai-based Ibrahim, said the police. Mujawar gave the names of his accomplices as Shaukatali Barmare, Sayyad Abbas Razak and Yakub Pavaskar. They also revealed that one Munna, allegedly the key conspirator on behalf of Dawood, provided the car used for the shootout.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.