Two contract killers held in Khopoli murder case | Mumbai News

Navi Mumbai: A week after arresting nine accused for the murder of Mangesh Kalokhe (45), the husband of newly elected Khopoli councillor Manasi Kalokhe of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), the Raigad police have arrested two more accused contract killers, while one key contract killer is at large.Mangesh Kalokhe was hacked to death by five assailants with swords, sickle and an axe on Dec 26 around 7 am at a busy junction in Khopoli while he was returning home on his bike after dropping his two daughters to school. The assailants were waiting for Kalokhe in a black coloured car.Anchal Dalal, Raigad SP, said that the arrested key murder conspirator Ravindra Devkar is the husband of NCP (Ajit Pawar) faction neta, Urmila Devkar, who was defeated by Manasi Kalokhe in the recent Khopoli municipal council election. Ravindra Devkar has confessed that he had hired three contract killers for executing the murder of Kalokhe due to political rivalry, Dalal said. The five assailants included the arrested accused Darshan Devkar, the elder son of Ravindra Devkar and the latter’s bodyguard Mahesh Dhaitadak and three contract killers, out of whom we have arrested two contract killers and one key contract killer is being traced.SP Dalal said, “We are probing to ascertain the murder conspiracy involvement of two accused Sudhakar Ghare, the Raigad district NCP President and NCP spokesperson Bharat Bhagat, who have been named in the FIR by Kalokhe’s nephew. Untill the key contract killer is arrested, the role of Ghare and Bhagat in the murder conspiracy cannot be confirmed.The nine accused arrested within 48 hours of Kolakhe’s murder were Ravindra Devkar, his wife Urmila, their sons Darshan and Dhanesh, NCP supporters Vishal Deshmukh, Dilip Pawar, Mahesh Dhaitadak, Sagar More and Sachin Kharade. One more accused named in the FIR identified as activist Sachin Chavan is also been traced.