Mumbai: A person facing MCOCA charges in connection with the firing outside Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s residence in Bandra suburbs here has expressed his desire to turn approver in the case, sources in the Mumbai Crime Branch said.
Without disclosing the identity of the accused, the sources said that one of those arrested in the April 14 shooting case and facing charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) has express his desire to be an approver and necessary procedure prescribed under the law has been set into motion.
As per procedure, the probe agency will first record the accused’s confession before a high ranking officer not part of the ongoing investigation, and later the same will be recorded before a magistrate, the sources added.
The confessional statement will be the part of evidence and it will be used against him as well as other accused facing charges, they said.
On Monday, three accused arrested in the case were sent to police custody till May 8, while a fourth was sent to judicial custody.
Special MCOCA judge AM Patil remanded Vicky Gupta, 24, Sagar Pal, 21, and Anuj Thapan, 32, to police custody and sent Sonu Kumar Chander Bishnoi, 37, to judicial custody on medical grounds.
The accused were earlier booked under the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act. Police had registered the first information report after two motorcycle-borne men fired at Galaxy Apartment in Bandra, in the early hours of April 14.
Gupta and Pal, both residents of Bihar, were apprehended from Kutch in neighbouring Gujarat on April 16, while Sonu Bishnoi and Thapan were held from Punjab on April 25.
Anmol Bishnoi, who stays in Canada and travels to the US, had claimed responsibility for the firing through a Facebook post, though its IP address was traced to Portugal, as per police. The accused are allegedly related to jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi who is currently lodged in Tihar.
