One held, three minors detained for firing at gym owner

Pune: A drone operator was arrested and three minors (all aged 17) detained late on Wednesday night on the charge of attempting to murder a gym owner over a trivial dispute.

Police said the four fired three rounds and assaulted the gym owner with a billhook in Sahakarnagar around 10pm on Wednesday.

A team comprising senior inspectors Vitthal Pawar and Rajendra Sahane, along with inspector Santosh Jadhav, arrested the drone operator, identified as Aditya Thopte (21) of Janata Vasahat. The three minors are residents of Sinhagad Road, Narhe and Janata Vasahat.

The four were found at an isolated spot in the old Katraj Ghat section late on Wednesday night. Police recovered two country-made pistols and three live cartridges from them. The minors told the police that they had procured the weapons from a person based in Uttar Pradesh.

Deputy commissioner of police (zone II) Milind Mohite told TOI: “We recorded the statements of Thopte and the minors. They said that about three months ago, gym owner Yogesh Banekar (35) of Dhankawadi had allegedly beaten them following an argument over overtaking and rash driving in the Parvati area.”

Mohite said the suspects did not register a complaint and decided to teach Banekar a lesson. They began to keep an eye on him. “Thopte and the minors have been booked earlier in cases involving offences causing bodily harm. Banekar said he does not know the suspects and is unaware of any incident wherein he had allegedly assaulted them over a rash-driving dispute,” the DCP added.

He said, “On Wednesday night, Thopte and the minors spotted Banekar riding his scooter and gave chase on two separate two-wheelers. The gym owner stopped at a fruit stall near Shinde High School in Sahakarnagar. The suspects then fired three bullets at him. Two missed the target, while one struck him on the nape. The four youths then chased and assaulted him with the billhook. Banekar sustained shoulder injuries.”

“The suspects left behind one scooter and fled towards Katraj on the other. The abandoned two-wheeler belongs to the elder brother of one of the detained minors,” he said.

A case of attempted murder has been registered at the Sahakarnagar police station after Banekar’s statement was recorded. The gym owner has been admitted to a private hospital in Erandwane.