Final two in Lahoria murder suspect list arrested

MUMBAI: A team of six policemen followed various leads for three months to arrest builder Mahesh Bijlani and his brother's driver, Anil D Souza, from a hideout in Bhopal late on Tuesday, a major development in the Navi Mumbai builder Sunil Lahoria murder case.

With their arrest, all 12 suspects in the case are now caught.

D Souza was the driver of Mahesh's builder brother Suresh Bijlani, who is also an accused in the Lahoria case.

Mahesh and D Souza were caught from a flat at Lake View apartment in Shamla Hill. Produced before a local court for transit remand, they are expected to be brought to the city on Thursday.

The two had been on the run since February 16 last year, the day Lahoria was shot dead outside his office in Sector 28 in Vashi.

Two shooters, Venkat Shettiar and Wajjid Qureshi, were nabbed at first. Their questioning led to the arrest of a former police officer, encounter specialist Emmanual Amolik. The police soon suspected Suresh Bijlani and architect Anuragh Garg had hatched the plot to kill Lahoria fearing he would blow the lid off an FSI scam.

Mahesh, who is the younger of the two Bijlanis, and D Souza became the 11th and 12th accused to be arrested in the case.

Joint commissioner of police (crime) Sadanand Date said the arrest was the result of human intelligence and hard work of more than three months.

The police said Mahesh Bijlani knew of the criminal conspiracy and carried Amolik's message to his brother after Lahoria's killing, while D Souza took the contract money to Amolik.

Stay updated on the go with The Times of India’s mobile apps. Click here to download it for your device.