Thane: Subhash Singh Thakur, serving a life term in Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehgarh Central Jail for the sensational JJ Hospital killings of 1993, has been arrested by Maharashtra police for the contract killing of a builder in Virar in 2022.Thakur, who was sentenced by a special TADA court in Mumbai in 2000 for the 1993 case, was produced in the Thane court a day after Mira-Bhayander-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police brought him from the UP jail on a transit remand.Despite his incarceration, Thakur used encrypted mobile apps to pass instructions to associates who carried out the 2022 murder of Virar-based realtor Samay Chauhan, prosecution informed Thane MCOCA court on Tuesday, while seeking his police custody.Special MCOCA judge V G Mohite remanded Thakur, a former associate of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, to police custody till Dec 22.The MBVV crime branch, which is probing the case led by ACP Madan Ballal, told the court that on Feb 26, 2022, two bike-borne assailants fired five rounds at close range at Chauhan in Virar’s Manvelpada area, killing him. Investigators said the contract killing stemmed from a property dispute between Chauhan and another builder Rahul Dubey.Police had applied provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and apprehended 13 accused, including the alleged shooters and intermediaries.Dubey was apprehended in Ballia in Bihar, while the alleged shooters, Manish Singh and Rahul Sharma, and their accomplice Abhishek Singh were arrested from Varanasi. Of three absconding accused, one died and two are still at large.The prosecution claimed that Thakur masterminded the contract killing despite being incarcerated at Fatehgarh Central Jail. They alleged that Thakur maintained control of his crime syndicate through Akhilesh Tiwari even when he was transferred to jail hospitals and Banaras Hindu University hospital in Varanasi for medical care. Thakur who once led assailants armed with AK-47s and grenades into JJ Hospital to kill a Gawli gang member and two constables who were guarding him, was convicted in the case but spent years in and out of hospital on grounds of medical treatment.The prosecution highlighted that during Thakur’s treatment at BHU, other accused conducted multiple meetings with his associate Tiwari to finalise the plan, a claim corroborated by CCTV footage analysis.The prosecution alleged that Rahul took the contract to eliminate Chauhan via Tiwari. To help the shooters recognise their target, Tiwari reportedly showed them Chauhan’s photograph on his phone. Rahul, Abhishek, and Arjun, alias Ajju Singh, who lived near the location, oversaw the operation and provided logistical assistance to ensure the crime was successfully executed.The court was informed that an initial attempt to execute the contract killing occurred in June 2021. Dubey and other associates allegedly provided accommodation, financial support, and logistical assistance; and firearms and live ammunition were procured; and the accused were dispatched to Virar. However, the operation failed due to Rahul’s declining health.Police said the conspiracy was reactivated on February 16, 2022, and the accused carried out the hit 10 days later. Investigators claimed that after the killing, Thakur used encrypted mobile apps to specify where the pistol and cartridges used in the crime should be delivered to his associate in Andheri.Police depended on voluntary confessional statements recorded under the MCOCA to establish the organised crime network and stated that custodial interrogation was necessary to track the contract payment and investigate assets obtained through criminal enterprises.
