Hotelier firing case: Two get lifer, another gets 10-yr jail

A special court today convicted three persons in connection with the 2009 case of firing on a city-based hotelier, who had survived the attack as the bullet hit a coin kept in his shirt's pocket.
Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Judge A L Panasare convicted the two shooters Vencil Mirinda, Nitin Pawar and the alleged mastermind Sachin Kambhe.
While Mirinda and Kambhe were awarded life imprisonment, Pawar was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
According to police, in October 2009, when hotelier Krishna Shetty was sitting near his hotel along with his friend Nicholas Gomes, three men on a bike fired four rounds at them from close range.

Gomes sustained a bullet injury in his leg, while Shetty was hit by two bullets-- one on his leg, while another one hit the Rs 5 coin that he had kept in the pocket of his shirt, which saved his life.
Mirinda and Pawar were later arrested by police and during their interrogation, it was revealed that they were fleeing to Bangalore to meet their mentor Kambhe, who at that time was lodged in Bangalore Jail.
Accepting the prosecution's arguments, the special judge convicted the trio and awarded punishment.
In all 54 witnesses had been examined in the case.