Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The probe into the murder of Aslam Shabbir Sheikh alias Bunty Jagirdar (53) — one of the accused in the 2012 Pune’s JM Road bomb blasts case — revealed that two country-made pistols of different calibres were used to kill him, police said on Friday.Empty cartridges recovered from the crime scene in Shrirampur town corroborated the use of two firearms, the police said. The Ahilyanagar district police recovered both weapons and initiated the process of sending them to forensic ballistic experts for a detailed analysis. Sub-divisional police officer Jaydatta Bhawar told TOI that the ballistic examination would help establish the exact sequence of firing and match the bullets to the seized weapons.A resident of Shrirampur in Ahilyanagar district, Sheikh was gunned down by two bike-borne men when he was returning home after visiting a relative’s grave on Wednesday. The FIR, lodged on the basis of a complaint filed by Sheikh’s cousin and newly elected councillor Raees Abdulgani Sheikh, stated that the former was shot at around 2.50pm near Santluk Hospital. Sheikh and his associate, Amin Gulab Sheikh, were returning home on a scooter then. Sheikh succumbed to his bullet wounds and Amin was injured.The in-camera post-mortem conducted at Govt Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar revealed that Sheikh had sustained five bullet wounds — 3 to the chest and 1 each to the hand and leg. Two bullets lodged in his body were recovered during the autopsy and preserved for forensic examination, a police officer said.An officer privy to the investigation said both the assailants carried firearms at the time of the attack. During questioning, one of them claimed that he had emptied the entire magazine while firing. The police were verifying the claim by correlating the number of empty shells recovered from the spot, the capacity of the magazine and the bullet wounds in the victim’s body, the officer said.The two men arrested for the attack were lodged at Shirdi police station. On Thursday, they were produced before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Shrirampur, through video conferencing and were remanded in police custody till Jan 6. The police did not rule out the possibility of further arrest in connection with Sheikh’s murder. The police registered a case under sections 103, 109 and 3(5) of BNS, along with relevant provisions of the Arms Act in connection with Sheikh’s murder and did not rule out the possibility of further arrests.Raees, who was elected councillor in the recently held local elections. sought swift action also against those allegedly involved behind the scenes. “We requested the police to immediately arrest those who tipped off the assailants about Sheikh’s location. We have provided the police names of people who, we believe, acted as watchers for the shooters,” Raees told TOI.Sheikh’s family has been involved in local politics. His mother, Raziya Bi Jagirdar, was a two-term councillor before she died in 2019. After her demisedeath Raees’s wife, Tarannum, won the bypoll. Raees was elected a councillor in the just concluded civic polls. In the last assembly elections, Shekh had supported the Congress candidate who defeated Sagar alias Chanya Beg (Independent).
