On Tuesday, gunmen Syyed Ali, 29, a resident of Mumbra in adjoining Thane, and Indra Khatri, 27, from Nepal, allegedly shot dead Kaskar's driver-cum-bodyguard Arif Syed Abu Bukha, 40 in south Mumbai's Dambarwala building in which Kaskar's office and house are located.
The two were arrested from near J J Hospital, while their other two associates managed to flee. The duo was sent to police custody till May 26.
"In the interrogation, the two shooters claimed Kaskar was not their target. The accused stated they were told to kill Bukha and one more person. The one more person we are talking about is not Kaskar," Joint Police Commissioner Himanshu Roy said.
"The arrest of the mediator, who gave the killing contract to the shooters, would make the picture clear. The shooters say that the mediator's name is Rehman. The mediator's interrogation will make it clear if Kaskar was the
target or not and which gang was involved in the firing," the crime branch chief added.
A day after the shooting, Home Minister R R Patil had said, "Initial questioning of those arrested in connection with the incident has revealed that their target was Iqbal's driver.
However, the Mumbai police till Thursday maintained they could not conclusively say Kaskar was not the target as the two shooters had been paid "large" amount for the job and were also provided sophisticated weapons.
Another senior police official said the shooters had been paid nearly Rs 50,000 for the job.
The official, on condition of anonymity, said, "The deceased Bukha was not working just as a driver-cum-body guard but he was doing more than his actual job. We are verifying his background to ascertain why he was killed."
