Pune: Two men, waiting for their turn at a salon shop in Warje Malwadi, were seriously injured after a duo, including a criminal wanted in a drugs peddling case, fired at them and attacked them with sharp weapon around 8pm on Friday. The incident caused panic and melee in the Yashdeep Chowk locality where the salon is located. The motive behind the attack is being ascertained, police said.One of the assailants was apprehended by people and later handed over to the Warje Malwadi police. The other managed to escape from the spot. Police identified the injured victims as Nihal Shinde and Amol Adhav, who were admitted to a nearby hospital where they were undergoing treatment. A police team rushed to the spot on being alerted about the incident. Preliminary investigation indicated that one of the assailants could be linked to Rathya Rathod, a criminal on police records, who was arrested recently in a kidnapping case registered by Uttamnagar police. Investigations into that case revealed that Rathod and his associates were involved in drug trafficking. Along with Rathod, Rajan Gopal Nair (37), Jatin Jaywant Kadam (26, resident of Warje), and Shubham Santosh Dahibhate (28, resident of Kondhve Dhawade) were arrested. “Some of Rathod’s associates are on the run,” a police officer said. Earlier this month, senior inspector Raghvendra Kshirsagar of the Uttamnagar police said, “We seized over 10 gm of mephedrone from them. While studying the UPI applications of Rathod, we identified about 350 transactions in which he received money from various people. Of these, 76 individuals were identified and the Crime Branch was assigned the task of tracing them.”
