JJ Hospital shootout: 32 years on, police arrest main shooter from UP
Tribhuvan Singh, 63, arrested after 32 years in the 1992 JJ Hospital shootout, remains in police custody until October 25 for further investigation.
MUMBAI: After 32 years, Tribhuvan Sing, 63, an accused in the 1992 JJ Hospital shootout case was arrested by the Mumbai police on Saturday. The accused was presented before a special TADA court which remanded him in police custody till October 25.
The shootout that occurred at JJ hospital, had a squad of 24 sharpshooters from the Dawood Ibrahim gang, led by Subhashsingh Thakur. Thakur ambushed a ward to kill Shailesh Haldankar, a shooter of the rival Arun Gawli gang. The attack was carried out to avenge the murder of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s brother-in-law, Ibrahim Parkar.
Arun Gawli’s gang allegedly killed Parkar and the squad ended up killing Gawli’s shooter Haldankar and two police constables during a fire exchange with Dawood’s hit squad.
Police officers said that two members of the hit squad had fired using AK-7 rifles and Singh was one of them. Singh, they said, is considered a notorious gangster in Uttar Pradesh, where he has several cases against him.
“He had received injuries in the shootout, after which he went to Surat and got himself operated on. We have hospital papers and doctor’s statement to corroborate the fact”, special public prosecutor Sunil Gonsalves said, adding that Singh changed his name to Shreekanth, to avoid getting caught.
The prosecutor said that they require his custody for investigation. As per the prosecution, Singh had suffered several injuries in the shootout which need to be examined by doctors. “Doctors are experts to tell how old his injury is. We need to take his fingerprints as well. We need to undertake his identification parade,” argued the prosecution.
Gonsalves said they have been trying to get Singh into custody since the Covid-19 pandemic. Singh has other cases registered against him and is currently lodged in the Mirzapur jail in UP.