Mishra, who hails from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, had been working as Mauris’ bodyguard since December.The pistol licence, issued in 2003, was valid till 2026. The police said Mishra had not registered the pistol with the Mumbai police.
Mishra’s pistol, now seized by the police, was used by Mauris (49) to allegedly fire on Ghosalkar (41) and later to kill himself. A murder case has been filed at MHB Colony police station.
The crime branch, which is probing the case, added sections of the Arms Act to the case and arrested Mishra (44) on Friday for allegedly handing over his weapon to Mauris without ascertaining if he was legally authorised to possess it.
The police are verifying if Mishra had, before the shooting, gone to a hospital with a local whose mother was admitted there.
At the time of the incident, Mishra was outside the building. He then went to the hospital where Ghosalkar was taken and stayed outside. He then went home to Kashimira. Police brought him from Kashimira and arrested him.
Seeking Mishra’s police custody, the crime branch in its remand paper stated it wanted to find out if Mishra’s gun licence was valid, why he had given the weapon to Mauris and why Mishra had a gun. The police stated they wanted to find out if Mishra got any monetary benefit by keeping his gun with Mauris and if he had committed any offence earlier.
Mishra’s wife, Soni, who came to the court on Saturday, said her husband had been wrongly implicated and was being used. “In police custody, he [Mishra] has been tortured. There is swelling on his hands and legs,” she said, adding anything can happen to her husband in custody and urged CM Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis to help.
Mishra’s advocate Rekha Jaiswal said, “Police feel his [Mishra’s] weapon is illegal, but he has a licence. He is a bodyguard and has a pistol,” she said, adding the licence was all-India registered.
Investigators have seized six empty cartridges, DVR of CCTV camera, tripod, five mobile phones, eight live cartridges, one pistol, one smart watch among other things.
