2 arrested for murder of 2012 Pune bomb blast accused; cops probe political angle

The Ahilyanagar police have arrested two youngsters for allegedly murdering Aslam Shabbir Shaikh alias Bunty Jahagirdar (52), an accused in the 2012 Jangli Maharaj (JM) Road serial bomb blast case in Pune.

A resident of ward number 2 in Shrirampur in Ahilyanagar district of Maharashtra, Jahagirdar was currently out on bail. He was shot dead by two persons in Shrirampur, around 2.50 pm on Wednesday.

Based on clues obtained from CCTV footage, the police nabbed two suspects Krushna Arun Shingare (23) and Ravindra Gautam Nikalje (23) of Shrirampur, on Wednesday night.

A press release issued on Thursday stated that the accused have confessed to Jahagirdar’s murder. Police booked the accused under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 103, 109, 3(5) and sections of the Indian Arms Act.

On Thursday, a court in Ahilyanagar remanded the two accused to police custody till January 6 for further investigation. Somnath Gharge, Superintendent of Police, Ahilyanagar, said an investigation is on to confirm the motive behind the murder, how the accused planned it, from where they procured the firearms, and whether persons are involved in the crime.

Jahagirdar’s cousin Raees Abdulgani Shaikh (43), a councillor at the Shrirampur Municipal Council, lodged the first information report (FIR) in this case at the Shrirampur city police station.

In the FIR, Raees Shaikh has alleged that a local gangster Chanya Beg from Shrirampur had Jahagirdar killed over political hostility. But police have not named Beg as an accused in this case, so far. A senior police officer said allegations made in the FIR are being investigated along with other possibilities.

As stated in the FIR, after attending a funeral at the crematorium, Jahagirdar was going home with Amin Gulab Shaikh on a two wheeler, when two men on a motorcycle opened fire at them from a gun, near a hospital in Ward number 1, Shrirampur.

It is alleged in the FIR that the assailants said “Ekach Bhai Chanya Bhai (Only Bhai is Chanya Bhai), while firing bullets. Police said Amin Shaikh was injured as a bullet brushed his back. But, the assailants fired more bullets at Jahagirdar, leaving him in a pool of blood. Jahagirdar was initially taken to the Sakhar Kamgar Hospital in Shrirampur, but later shifted to a private hospital for treatment, where he was pronounced dead. Later, his postmortem was conducted at the Ghati hospital in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, police said.

Complainant Raeesh Shaikh stated in the FIR that his cousin Banti Jahagirdar was active in politics for the last 15 to 20 years. Jahagirdar’s mother was a councillor in Shrirampur Municipal Council from 2011 to 2019. After her death, Raees’s wife became a councillor from 2019 to 2021. Raees had been elected at the Shrirampur Municipal Council as a councillor in December 2025.

As stated by Raees in the FIR, Jahagirdar worked for MLA Hemant Ogale (Congress party) during the Vidhan Sabha elections 2024 and Council President Kiran Sasane for the Shrirampur Municipal Council elections held recently, leading both of them to victory, the FIR stated.

Raees further claimed in the FIR, Jahagirdar’s political influence was causing hurdles for the political and criminal activities of the three brothers Chanya Beg, Sonya Beg and Tipya Beg, who run an organised gang, involved in serious crimes, in Shrirampur for the last 10 to 15 years.

“Chanya Beg was angry (at Jahagirdar) as he lost the Vidhansabha elections from Shrirampur constituency in 2024….. So he allegedly got my brother (Jahagirdar) killed through his men. Chanya Beg had made provocative comments against my brother in his speeches,” Raees alleged in the FIR.

Police sources said Chanya alias Sagar Beg is a criminal on record from Shrirampur, who contested the 2024 Vidhansabha elections as an independent candidate and got over 47,000 votes. Besides, he also allegedly operates a fringe Hindutva group in Shrirampur, sources said.

Police inspector Nitin Deshmukh of the Shrirampur city police station said of the two arrested accused, one was booked in an offence in the past, while the other has no previous criminal record. “As of now, it is not known whether the accused are linked to any group. But, further investigation is on,” said Deshmukh.

Thousands turned up for Jahagirdar’s funeral in Shrirampur town on Thursday. His murder created a tense situation in Shrirampur. Along with local police, two companies of state reserve police force were deployed for maintaining law and order. Police warned action against anybody spreading rumours or false content on social media.

Police said Jahagirdar too was a notorious criminal on record, booked in multiple offences allegedly linked to illegal sand business, extortion, murder and terrorism. He also faced externment orders from the Ahilyanagar police due to his alleged involvement in criminal activities.

Jahagirdar was arrested by the Maharashtra ATS in January 2013 for his alleged links with low intensity bomb blasts on J M road in Pune on August 1, 2012, in which one person was left injured.

ATS probe had revealed that bomb blasts were carried out on the instructions of fugitive Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorist Riyaz Bhatkal for taking revenge of alleged IM operative Qateel Siddiqui’s murder by gangster Sharad Mohol in Pune’s Yerwada jail on June 6, 2012.

The ATS had alleged that the other accused in the J M road serial bomb blast case had procured three pistols and ammunition from Jahagirdar, allegedly for avenging Qateel’s murder and assassination of political and religious leaders.

The Bombay HC granted him bail in this case in January 2023. Earlier, he was also arrested under the Officials Secret Act in Nashik in 2006 for his alleged role in leaking Army information, police said.