Zee Media Bureau
Mumbai: The Mumbai Police on Tuesday detained a man who allegedly provided the weapon to gangster Abu Salem`s attacker in Taloba jail.
Manoj Lahmane allegedly supplied Rs 2 lakh and a country-made revolver to Devendra Jagtap, who shot at Salem on June 27. He was wounded in his right arm. The Mumbai Crime Branch has handed over Lahmane to the Navi Mumbai Crime Branch.
According to reports, Manoj acted as per the orders received from the Dawood gang.
The mafia don was attacked in Taloja Central Jail (TCJ) in Navi Mumbai, Raigad district. The state government has ordered a high-level probe and suspended four policemen.
Salem had been extradited to India from Portugal after a long legal battle in November 2005 with his then girlfriend Monica Bedi.
The incident had sent shock-waves in the police and jail security echelons.
Jagtap, known as JD in mafia circles, is said to be a close aide of Vijay Shetty, the rival of the absconding mafia don Chhota Rajan Nikhalje.
Jagtap is an accused in the murder of lawyer Shahid Azmi, who had represented the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack co-accused Faheem Ansari, who was later acquitted in that case.
Salem is an accused in several cases, including the March 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.
Salem was attacked inside a jail the second time in four years.
He had been attacked in July 2010 inside the maximum security Arthur Road Central Jail in Mumbai by rival gangster Mustafa Dossa with a sharpened spoon.
Following that incident, Salem was shifted to the Taloja jail as a precautionary measure, and Dossa shifted to Thane Jail.
(With IANS inputs)
