In a breakthrough in the murder of Punjabi rapper and Congress leader Sidhu Moosewala, the Pune Rural Police have nabbed history-sheeter Santosh Jadhav - one of the eight suspects named by the Punjab police in the killing, said authorities on Monday.
According to police sources, Jadhav, along with another associate Nagnath Suryavanshi, were picked by the police from Gujarat and were produced before a district court judge late Sunday night following which they were remanded to police custody till June 20.
Jadhav was arrested as he was prime suspect in the murder of another history-sheeter, Omkar Bankhele. He was said to be the shooter in Bankhele’s killing, which had occurred in Pune district’s Manchar taluk last year.
Since then, Jadhav has been on the lam for more than a year-and-a-half.
His arrest follows close on the heels of that of Siddhesh Kamble, known by his aliases ‘Mahakal’ and ‘Saurabh’ – the second suspect from Maharashtra said to be involved in the Moosewala killing.
On June 7, the Pune Rural police had picked Kamble from Sangamner near the Pune-Ahmednagar border last week in connection with Bankhele’s murder in which Kamble is said to have sheltered Jadhav.
Investigators had revealed that both Jadhav and Kamble were allegedly working for incarcerated gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
A warrant had been issued by the Pune police for Jadhav and Kamble since Bankhele’s murder last year.
Since Moosewala’s killing, the Pune police have been in continuous touch with their Punjab counterparts.
On Sunday, Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil said that police teams from four-five states were working in conjunction on the Moosewala murder case.
