Chandresh Patel, who allegedly gave the contract to kill Borsad municipality councillor Pragnesh Patel, was today arrested by Thai police in Thailand, according to Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) officials.
An ATS team is already in Thailand to bring him back here, said a senior ATS official.
Chandresh left the country after the incident when three rounds were fired on Pragnesh from a point blank range in Borsad town of Anand district of Gujarat on January 13.
"Chandresh hired one Suresh Pillai to kill Pragnesh. The contract was finalised for Rs 25 lakhs. After the incident, Chandresh left for Thailand. Since we knew about his movements, we sought help of Thailand police, which nabbed him today. It will take two days to bring him here," said the official.
Earlier, ATS along with Anand Police arrested Pillai and two of his accomplices on January 18. It was revealed that Pillai is a former henchman of gangster Ravi Pujari, who is believed to be based abroad.
However, ATS has claimed that Pillai is no longer associated with Pujari and took the contract to kill Pragnesh in his personal capacity.
The incident happened on January 13 when three rounds were fired at Pragnesh from a point blank range in Borsad, allegedly by Pillai. Pragnesh is currently undergoing treatment at a Vadodara-based hospital.
After the arrests of Pillai and two others, ATS had said that both Chandresh and Pragnesh were at loggerheads since long due to some personal as well as business reasons.
Chandresh was also angry because his mother lost elections against Pragnesh in recent municipality polls in Borsad, claimed ATS.
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