Kochi: The two assailants who fired gun shots outside the beauty salon owned by actor Leena Maria Paul at Panampilly Nagar on December 15 last year had actually planned to fire the shots inside the salon, police sources said. The plan was changed at the last minute because of the presence of the security guard outside the salon, they said.
The Crime Branch central unit - II on Thursday arrested Bilal, 25, of Kombara in Aluva NAD, and Vipin Varghese, 30, of Thevara, the first and the second accused respectively, who allegedly fired the shots.
Police sources said that the original plan was to create a terror-like situation after barging into the beauty parlour and firing shots inside. However, with the presence of the security guard, they panicked and fired the two shots in haste outside before fleeing. The attack was arranged to threaten Paul to pay the ransom of Rs. 25 crore demanded by gangster Ravi Pujari, who had allegedly rang her up multiple times before and after the incident.
Meanwhile, the arrest of Althaf, 28, from Kadavanthra who was taken into custody on Friday afternoon was recorded late in the night. He stands accused of arranging the weapons and motorcycle for the accused. The police are yet to retrieve one more revolver of an accused.
The motorcycle which was used to carry out the firing outside the salonwas retrieved from the accused Althaf's house at Kadavanthra late on Saturday, police sources said.
The investing team is yet to confirm the identity of the Kasargod-based aide of the gangster who had given the contract to Bilal. According to the probe team, they know his identity and the plot of the incident.
The Crime Branch, in its remand report of the accused, had stated that the gangster had rang Paul multiple times through internet calls and from numbers traced to Senegal, France and Malaysia.
The Crime Branch will collect the voice sample of the gangster who was arrested in Senegal earlier in the year, and match them with the voice clips they have.
