A probe by the Pimpri Chinchwad police revealed that a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, Kuldeep alias Kashish, who is currently in jail in the sensational Sidhu Moosewala murder case, allegedly gave instructions through a social media account to open fire at A J Furniture mall in Punawale last week.

Police arrested three persons from Haridwar in Uttarakhand in the recent firing case. They were identified as Parveen Ramnivas (22), Pankaj Kuldeep (21) and Sagar Ajaypal (21), all hailing from Haryana. A court on Thursday remanded the trio to police custody till May 28 for further investigation.

Two youngsters on motorcycles had allegedly fired bullets at AJ Furniture Mall on Aundh-Ravet BRTS Road in Punawale area of Pimpri Chinchwad around 9.15 pm on May 16. Soon after, an audio clip and screenshot of a Facebook post claiming that the firing was done by members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang went viral.

Jagdish Bishnoi, owner of AJ Furniture Mall, lodged the First Information Report (FIR) in this case at Ravet police station in Pimpri Chinchwad, in the early hours of May 17.

Police teams led by inspectors Sandip Sawant and Nitin Phatangare, assistant inspector H V Mane, sub-inspectors Sameer Londhe and Mayuresh Salunkhe checked about 400 videos captured by CCTV cameras around the furniture mall and other locations.

Cops got clues about the suspects from a lodge where they had stayed after committing the crime. After a rigorous search for four days at Rohtak in Haryana, a team led by assistant inspector Mane finally nabbed the three accused at Haridwar.

As per a press release issued on Thursday, a prima-facie probe revealed the accused committed the crime as per the instructions of Lawrence Bishnoi gang members Aarzoo Bishnoi, Shubham Lonkar and Kuldeep alias Kashish.

Police said Arzoo is the brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi. Lonkar is a wanted accused in the murder of former MLA Baba Siddique. Kashish was arrested in June 2022 for his alleged role in the murder of singer politician Sidhu Moosewala murder in Punjab on May 29 that year. Kashish is currently in jail.

A senior police officer said, “During interrogation, the accused claimed to have got instructions from a social media account from jailed gangster Kashish to attack the furniture mall in Punawale. Aarzoo Bishnoi supplied two pistols, cartridges and money to them through middlemen. Claims of Kashish’s involvement in the crime are being investigated. He is in jail and may be named as an accused in this offence.”

Police have booked the three arrested accused, along with fugitives Aarzoo Bishnoi and Lonkar, under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Sections 109 (attempt to murder), 3(5), 308(3), 308(5), 308(7), and sections of the Indian Arms Act and the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime) Shivaji Pawar said, “Accused Parveen and Pankaj opened fire at the furniture mall owner. They are visible in the CCTV footage of the incident. Accused Sagar Ajaypal was actively involved in the conspiracy.”

As per the FIR in this case, on May 7, an unidentified person made a WhatsApp call to complainant Jagdish Bishnoi’s business partner, Ashokkumar Bishnoi, from an international number, demanding Rs 2 crore and threatening to kill him if the money was not paid.

But Ashokkumar Bishnoi refused to pay any money. Then, on the night of May 16, when Jagdish was sitting at the AJ Furniture Mall, two men came to the spot on a motorcycle and fired about six bullets towards him. Jagdish escaped unhurt, but the bullets hit the mall, police said.

Within sometime, an audio clip emerged in which a person identifying himself as Aarzoo Bishnoi claimed responsibility for the attack.

A screenshot of a Facebook post tagging Aarzoo Bishnoi and Shubham Lonkar, stated that “Ashok” is an “MD Taskar (drug smuggler)” and hawala operator. The post threatened that this was just a “small trailer” and the next time they would not fire bullets at the Mall, but “into the head”. It also left a warning for the owner of Veer Furniture mall.

Police said the accused were promised Rs 2.5 lakh to attack the furniture mall owner. After receiving some of the payment in advance and firearms, Parveen and Pankaj allegedly reached Pune via private transport.

They procured a stolen motorcycle from their contacts and used it to commit the crime. An offence regarding theft of this motorcycle was lodged at Kharadi police station. Investigation was underway to recover the firearms and motorcycle as well as arresting the persons who supplied it to the attackers, police said.

Police were also probing whether the same accused made extortion calls over WhatApp to the owner of Veer Furniture, for which a separate FIR was lodged at Dighi police station.

Police were also probing the role of the accused in making similar extortion calls to 37 year old Pimpri-based businessman and film financer Sunny Nana Waghchoure (37), in January this year. As per the FIR lodged by his lawyer, a person claiming to be Shubham Lonkar made a call to Waghchoure demanding Rs 5 crore extortion. Police suspect Bishnoi gang members may have used a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to make extortion calls.