A horrifying public murder rattled Maharashtra's Ulhasnagar on Wednesday night after a man named Harish Gajwani was fatally attacked with a chopper and shot twice in the head near the local railway station. The assault took place in a bustling market pocket where commuters and shoppers were present in large numbers, triggering instant panic across the station perimeter. The attackers struck swiftly, inflicting deep blade wounds before opening fire at point-blank range, killing the victim on the spot before fleeing into the night.
How The Murder Unfolded Near Railway Station Camp 4
The crime occurred around 8:30 PM on Wednesday in the Camp 4 sector adjoining Ulhasnagar railway station. Initial police findings indicate that the assailants had tracked Harish Gajwani and cornered him in the crowded market. Without warning, they pulled out a sharp chopper and inflicted severe lacerations on him. As Gajwani collapsed to the ground, the attackers pulled out a firearm and pumped two bullets directly into his head to ensure he did not survive.
Capitalizing on the chaos and the evening rush hour, the perpetrators blended into the fleeing crowd and escaped down nearby alleys. However, security cameras mounted along commercial storefronts captured key moments of their escape. In the retrieved CCTV footage, one of the assailants can be seen hurrying past a shop holding a sharp chopper openly in his hand, closely followed by his accomplices as they sprinted away from the crime scene.
Police Deployment And Pronouncement At Central Hospital
The brazen nature of the attack prompted an immediate emergency response from the local administration. Ulhasnagar DCP Sachin Gore arrived at the location along with senior police officers and specialized forensic units to inspect the scene and secure physical evidence. Harish Gajwani was immediately rushed to the nearby Central Hospital in a critical state, but attending doctors declared him dead on arrival due to the catastrophic head trauma and gunshot injuries.
Three Suspects Cornered In Milind Nagar Within Two Hours
Determined to prevent the attackers from slipping out of the city limits, senior officers deployed multiple pursuit teams. Operatives from the Crime Branch and the local intelligence wing leveraged digital tracking, closed-circuit surveillance trails, and ground intelligence to map the escape route. Within just two hours of the murder, police cordoned off hideouts in the Milind Nagar locality and took all three suspects into custody.
Law enforcement authorities formally identified the three arrested individuals as Avinash Naidu, Vijay Puran Singh, and Noor Alam Khan. Investigators are interrogating the trio to recover the firearm, the chopper used in the assault, and other material evidence connected to the crime.
Roots In A 2021 Dispute And Broader Investigation
DCP Sachin Gore stated that preliminary interrogation points to an ongoing personal dispute dating back to 2021 as the primary catalyst behind the murder. The rivalry had apparently festered over time, culminating in Wednesday's targeted strike. Background checks further revealed that the victim, Harish Gajwani, was himself named as an accused in an earlier murder case and had been released on bail.
Police teams are now examining whether additional conspirators aided, abetted, or financed the trio in carrying out the assassination. DCP Gore emphasized that the department is probing every dimension of the conflict, and a comprehensive picture of the conspiracy will emerge once technical analyses and interrogations conclude.
