The Mumbai police’s famed intelligence network and its vast array of underworld informants were totally in the dark over the visit of a fugitive gangster to the city to lay the groundwork for a couple of sensational gangland hits.
According to top ranking sources, Bharat Nepali, the fugitive gangster, was in Mumbai for two days in the last week of January to plan the murder of both lawyer Shahid Azmi and Chhota Rajan aide Farid Tanasha.
While Azmi was killed in his office in February, Tanasha was shot dead at his house in Tilak Nagar this month. Nepali had taken responsibility for both the murders. According to the crime branch sources, during the investigations of Tanasha’s murder, various aides of Nepali and Tanasha have reportedly given a statement that Nepali was in Tilak Nagar at his own house in Building No. 30 for a whole night. “He also reportedly hosted a party on the terrace that night,” confirmed a crime branch official.
However what is severely embarrassing is the fact that the same unit of the crime branch (Unit VI) that cracked Azmi’s murder is investigating the Tanasha killing. Despite arresting the culprits for Azmi’s murder in less than three days, the investigating agency neither managed to preempt the Tanasha killing, nor did it know of Bharat Nepali’s visit to the city until now.
Further according to sources, Nepali apparently was seen roaming around in a black Scorpio in the area with the shooter who has been identified by the police for killing Tanasha. According to the sources Nepali recruited many boys from Kalyan, Dombivali, Govandi and Mulund area to his gang during his visit.
According to the sources Devendra Jagtap, the main accused in the Azmi murder case has reportedly told the police that they were first told to eliminate Tanasha. The next target was to be Azmi. However, Jagtap reportedly refused to eliminate Tanasha, as he was his close associate at one point in time.