Devendra Baburao Jagtap alias JD, who shot at gangster Abu Salem on Thursday, is making random and contradictory claims about how he sourced the firearm. JD gave the police at least seven different versions in a span of a few hours when he was initially interrogated inside Taloja jail after the incident.
Investigators have however said they will be able to extract the facts from him after he is placed under arrest and remanded to their custody.
DCP (crime) Shrikant Pathak said, “Since he is an undertrial, he is in judicial custody, where we require a special permission from the court. We have made an application to the Thane sessions court and are hopeful of getting his custody soon.”
According to sources from the Navi Mumbai crime branch, JD first told them that he planned to kill Salem six months ago and had procured the weapon then. “He then suddenly said it was three months ago and sneaked in the weapon at that time,” said a police source. When interrogators asked him how and where he hid the weapon, he first claimed that he kept it in some of the gutters and crevices of walls in the sprawling prison compound. “We knew he was making up the claims as he went along. This is primarily because it is pointless in holding to a firearm for more than two months when you see your target everyday. He then suddenly said that he put the weapon inside a small bag that is hung behind his cell’s door,” added the officer. When the police insisted on knowing how he sneaked in the weapon, he first said that it was inside a tiffin box and later gave two different versions of an accomplice throwing it over the boundary wall. “He first said that an accomplice threw it over the wall of the visitors section at the main gate. When we pointed out that the width of the wall at the main gate was too wide, he changed the account” the officer further added.