8-yr-old among 2 passersby wounded during gang clash

Mumbai: Shocked locals and passersby ran helter-skelter in panic as rival factions of a group clashed in Chunabhatti’s bustling Azad Gali locality Sunday afternoon. Assailants fled in the melee.According to sources, around 3.15pm, when Sumit Yerunkar (38), a gangster, was at Azad Gali, 10 rounds were fired at him of which two hit his aides Roshan Lokhande (30) and Akash Khandagale (31) on the right thigh and right hand, respectively, and two others struck passersby Madan Patil (54) on his left hand and eight-year-old Trisha Sharma on her right hand.Joint commissioner of police (law & order) Satyanarayan Chaudhary said: “The firing was a result of personal rivalry. Sumit Yerunkar suffered several bullet injuries and died, while four others were injured. The accused have been identified. Nine teams have been formed to track them down.” Late at night, police said they have detained four suspects.Chunabhatti police rushed Yerunkar and the others to the nearby Sion hospital, but the gangster died en route. Police said the condition of the four injured, including the child, is stable. “Preliminary investigation revealed that the assailants were former members of the Yerunkar gang,” a senior police officer told TOI. “The exact motive behind the killing will be clear after the assailants are nabbed,” the officer added. Police are enquiring with local residents and shopkeepers who may have witnessed the firing incident. Chunabhatti police have registered a case of murder under the Indian Penal Code and under the Arms Act. A police team is scanning footage from the CCTV cameras near the spot to trace the route the shooters had taken to escape, said sources.A gangland killing by organised criminals is a throwback to the past, particularly the 1980s and 1990s. Gangs took root in the city back in the 1940s. The likes of Karim Lala, Haji Mastan and Vardharajan Mudaliar were among those who rose to prominence through diesel and gold smuggling and running gambling dens. The wary distance they maintained from one another gave way to open hostility in the 1970s as turf wars broke out. Once Dawood Ibrahim’s ambitions came into play, the competition grew violent. Dawood fled the country in 1986, but through his associates, who were part of the D-Company, the gangster continued to hold sway. It took two decades and hundreds of extra-judicial encounters to break the stranglehold of organised crime over the city.