Navi Mumbai: An APMC contractor was wounded after two bike-borne men fired five bullets at him when he was seated in his car along a busy road near Navi Mumbai’s Jui Nagar railway station around 9am Friday. Police said four bullets hit Rajaram Thoke (48) on the abdomen, shoulder and a leg, and that he is stable, reports George Mendonca.
DCP (zone-1) Pankaj Dahane said Thoke, who had got the contract for vegetable waste disposal at APMC Turbhe market, was targeted when he was having breakfast from a roadside stall while on his way to an NMMC ward office in Sanpada, around 200 metres away.
The broad daylight attack was captured on the CCTV camera of a nearby chain retailer. “Police are reviewing the CCTV footage to trace the assailants,” said DCP (crime) Amit Kale, adding that Thoke is undergoing treatment at a private hospital. “The doctors treating him said that his condition is stable. We are investigating the motive behind the attack,” he said.
Thoke had some official work at the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation’s (NMMC) ward office in Sanpada around 9am. “He was seated in his parked car and was having breakfast and tea from a roadside stall when the two bike-borne men arrived and fired at him,” Dahane said.
Sanpada police, a crime branch team and forensic personnel found two bullet shells at the crime scene. “Eight teams of local police and crime branch units have been formed to trace the attackers,” said Dahane.
Sources said that Thoke had lodged complaints with police some time ago alleging that despite the about Rs 10-crore annual contract being awarded to him, some other group was taking away 20-25 truckloads of discarded vegetables from the market every day and selling them. They said that he had even filed multiple RTI applications seeking information on those in APMC’s administration and marketing department involved in this purported fraud.