Police have invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against seven persons arrested in connection with the murder of two cousins in Thane district last month. The seven accused, including the main perpetrator Vicky Mhatre, were part of an organised criminal gang involved in a series of violent crimes over the past decade, district Superintendent of Police (SP) Dr D S Swami told the news agency PTI.
The gang allegedly targeted 42-year-old Praful Tangdi due to previous enmity and monitored his movements before fatally attacking him on August 11, he said. Tangdi was attacked inside his office at Khardi village in Bhiwandi with swords and other weapons. When his cousin and office staff member Chetan Tangdi (22) tried to intervene and save him, he too was assaulted and killed by the accused, the police said in a release.
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The Bhiwandi Taluka police initially registered an FIR under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Arms Act. Following the registration of the case, the police launched a massive manhunt, deploying multiple teams and leveraging both intelligence and technical surveillance to track down the suspects. All seven accused were subsequently arrested.
"Upon investigating their criminal backgrounds, we found these individuals had been involved in serious and heinous crimes since 2013. Their offences include unlawful assembly, assault, attempt to murder, and illegal possession of weapons. The consistent pattern of criminal behavior indicated that they operated as a structured gang, which warranted the application of MCOCA," the SP stated. The police were probing the extent of the gang's criminal network and its possible links to other cases.