Gangster convicted of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts held in Goa

Panaji, February 15

Goa Police have arrested a Dawood Ibrahim gang member who was convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case and involved in 18 other major crimes, including a shootout at Mumbai’s JJ hospital.

Shyam Kishor Garikapatti, who originally from Pune and associated with the D-gang since the past two decades, was caught last night in Saligao village, about 10 km from Panaji, where he had been hiding for the past eight years, Superintendent of Police Karthik Kashyap told reporters on Sunday.

A convict in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case that killed 257 people and injured over 700,  Kishor had jumped parole in 2003 and since then had been on the run, Kashyap said.

He was living in Saligao for the last eight years on a fake identity. A pistol and a fake ID card were seized from his possession, he said.

The gangster, known by his street name 'Black Scorpion', was also allegedly involved in a shootout at Mumbai’s JJ hospital in the early 90s involving the rival gangs of Dawood Ibrahim and Arun Gawli.        He was also allegedly involved in the attack on residents of Vadrai coastal village in Maharashtra on April 30, 1991, and several other murder cases, the SP said.

The D-gang had attacked the villagers in retaliation to their picking up the silver bars scattered in the sea from a capsized vessel hired by a smuggler.

Kishor was in touch with D-gang leader Subhash Thakur during his stay in Goa, police said.

He had earlier been imprisoned under the stringent Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) in Maruti Jadhav murder case, police said.

The gangster was also wanted by Maharashtra's Vithalwadi police for murdering a person, they added. — PTI