Mumbai: Prime accused arrested in builder's murder case

Thane: A real estate developer, prime accused in a murder case of a Navi Mumbai-based builder, was today arrested after he surrendered before a session court here. Suresh Bijlani, who had been on the run for the last five months, gave himself up before Additional Sessions Judge K R Warrier. He was later taken into custody by Mumbai Crime branch, police said. With his arrest, the total number of persons held in the case rose to 10, they said. Navi Mumbai-based builder Sunil Kumar Lahoria was shot dead in broad daylight outside his office in Vashi by two assailants on 16 February. Upon surrender, Bijlani was sent to Civil Hospital for medical examination. He then applied for bail which was rejected and Crime Branch arrested him, they said. [caption id=“attachment_977423” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The murder had been captured on CCTV. Screengrab from IBN-Live[/caption] The Sessions Court had last month issued non-bailable warrants against Bijlani, his brother Mahesh and architect Anurag Garg in the murder case. Bijlani’s anticipatory bail plea had been earlier rejected by the Sessions Court, Bombay High Court and also the Supreme Court. The SC last week directed Bijlani to surrender before Tuesday on a plea filed by Lahoria’s son Sunny against the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s interim bail to the builder. Nine people arrested earlier in the case include alleged shooters Venkatesh Shettiar, Wajid Qureshi, realty developer Sumit Bacchewar and retired ’encounter specialist’ Emmanuel Amolik. Home Department had transferred the case from Navi Mumbai Police to Mumbai Crime Branch following allegations of bias in the investigations. In May, Crime Branch filed a 1,800-page charge sheet in the Sessions Court here. Three accused, including Bijlani and Garg, were shown as absconding accused in the charge sheet. Business rivalry is suspected to have led to the murder, which was caught on CCTV camera. PTI