The family members of Amol Khotkar, suspected mastermind of the Bajajnagar dacoity case in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, alleged foul play by the police during his encounter on Monday midnight. Amol’s father, Baburao, and sister, Rohini, alleged that the police had taken a contract to kill him, as those who had made complaints in the dacoity are rich people and the police shook hands with them, they alleged.

Rohini said that Amol was the only earning hand in the family. The police would have arrested him if he was a criminal, and the court would have decided about it. However, the police took the law in their hands and killed him in a fake encounter.

Here's what family claimed

Rohini said that around 15 to 20 police came to their house in Padegaon at around 5 am on Tuesday. Only one of them was in police uniform, and all others were in civil dress. They searched the house and scattered all the articles in the house, but they did not find anything. Then they told the family members that Amol is injured and he has been taken to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH).

Meanwhile, the police said that they have arrested one woman named Hafiza alias Khushi Akhtar Ali Shaikh (27), who was with Khotkar in his car during the encounter. Khotkar had kept some of the stolen jewellery with her, and the police have seized the remaining jewellery.

Hafiza Shaikh is said to be a native of West Bengal and was living there for the past few years. She has sold some of the jewellery of the dacoity, the police said.

Khotkar is a hardcore criminal on the police record, and several cases of serious nature are registered against him with the Cantonment, Cidco MIDC, Begumpura, Khuldabad, Satara, Badnapur, Ahilyanagar, Vedantnagar, and other police stations.

The police earlier arrested the suspects Yogesh Hajbe, Suresh Gangne, Syed Azharoddin, Sohail Jalil Shaikh, and Mahendra Bidve in this matter. They have been remanded in police custody till June 10.