When Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was arrested in an alleged drug bust on luxury cruise ship Cordelia, one person became famous overnight, and all because of a selfie. If it was not for this selfie, nobody would have heard of him and even the case would not have kicked up such a storm. He is Kiran Gosavi.
Kiran Gosavi had accompanied the NCB team that had raided the cruise ship and later videos emerged of him hustling Aryan away from the ship and into the NCB office in Mumbai.
However, the hunter became the hunted soon, and Gosavi found himself not only being chased by news cameras but also by the Maharashtra Police. It was Pune Police who finally caught up with on-the-run Gosavi and handcuffed him.
How did they manage to nab him? It was the result of a highly alert Crime Branch, great teamwork, and an excellent network of informers. After exclusive conversations with Pune City Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta (IPS), DCP Crime Branch Pune, Srinivas Ghadge, and Head Constable of Crime Branch Pune, Sanjay Bhapkar, Indian Masterminds pieced together all the details to get the whole story of Operation Get Gosavi.
THE SELFIE THAT INVITED TROUBLE
It was the famous selfie that he clicked with Aryan while still abroad the cruise ship that brought Kiran Gosavi instant fame, as the pic went viral, and netizens started discussing about his role in the NCB operation. Suddenly, Gosavi found himself in limelight, perhaps more than Aryan Khan, as people were curious to know who was this man?
While reporters were trying hard to dig up on him, Maharashtra Police came up with an old 420 case filed against him in Pune in 2018. It emerged that he had absconded then. But now, Pune Police started looking for him afresh.
“We registered a fresh FIR against him for threatening and abusing the earlier complainant to withdraw the case,” Pune City Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta, IPS, said.
Mumbai Police, also, stepped up efforts to nab him. But Kiran Gosavi had disappeared!
A countrywide search was launched to find him. In between, reports emerged that he was going to surrender in Madhya Pradesh. However, it was Pune Police who finally tracked him down and arrested him.
A BIG TIP OFF
The story of the arrest of Kiran Gosavi reads like a Bollywood crime thriller! All elements of a thriller, like suspense, subterfuge, informers, tip-offs, and alert cops were there in abundance.
But, to begin it, we need to go back to the time when Pune Crime Branch Head Constable Sanjay Bhapkar got tipped off by an informer about the arrival of a ‘big fish’ in Pune soon.
When he got to know that this big fish is none other than Kiran Gosavi and he was coming to Pune to meet his lawyer in the Hadapsar area, he rushed to inform his seniors: Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta and DCP Crime Branch Srinivas Ghatge.
Pune Police was already tracking Gosavi through the location of his mobile phone, which he switched on and off at different locations to confuse and throw police off his back. They had also activated all the information sources. So, this was just the opportunity they were looking for.
The game itself was coming towards the lair!
SPECIAL TEAM FORMED
Police Commissioner Gupta sprang into action. “We formed a special team and chalked out a strategy. A three-member team was formed to lay in wait for Gosavi when he arrived in the city.”
The men in the team were from Crime Branch: Assistant Police Inspector Sandeep Buva, Head Constable Sanjay Bhapkar and Police Constable Prafful Chavan.
Meanwhile the informer provided more information. Gosavi would reach Pune on October 27 (2021) around 10 pm by car from Mumbai and get down at Katraj chowk.
There was very little time. Both the Commissioner and DCP Crime personally briefed the team about the operation. Utmost secrecy was maintained. Even the area policemen of Katraj were not informed of the operation.
NIGHT VIGIL AT KATRAJ CHOWK
According to the plan, the three crime branch policemen went in plain clothes in a grey Celerio to Katraj chowk and started keeping vigil, slowly driving around. 10 pm came and went… the clock kept ticking… but there was no sign of Gosavi.
The three men were pulled up twice by the Katraj police on suspicion as they were moving around in the same place for a long time. Every time, they got away by saying that they were waiting to pick up a friend who will arrive from Mumbai soon.
At 12 am, the team decided to change the car as they had been driving around in it for three hours straight and “if our target was watching for any suspicious activity, he would have noticed our car by now,” said Head Constable Sanjay Bhapkar.
CHANGED CARS TO AVOID SUSPICION
They got into a white Scorpio this time and resumed patrolling at the Katraj chowk.
They kept waiting… still no sign of Gosavi. After a while, they decided to go to the Bharti police station nearby to check live footages. As they watched, at around 1 am, they noticed a car slowing down to a halt near a bank at Katraj chowk and a man with his head covered with a hood getting down and moving away quickly. His built was same as Gosavi’s.
All three jumped up and rushed to the spot. But there was no sign of the man anywhere in the vicinity.
CALL CENTRE GIRL HELPED
In a distance, they saw a young boy on a bike with a girl. The boy, a bike cab rider, was about to drop the girl, a call centre employee, to her home in a narrow lane after the office car dropped her off at the main road.
The team asked the boy if he saw a man get down from a car. No, he said. The girl who was listening quietly stepped out of the shadows and addressed the cops, “I saw a man get down from a car and walk away hurriedly. He headed that way and turned left,” she said pointing to a road ahead.
The cops thanked her and headed that way.
CHECKED HOTELS AND LODGES
They made enquiries in all the hotels and lodges in that area. They checked the guest registers for any entry without identification. Nothing. They drew a blank.
They reached a point in Mangdewadi near Katraj where the pucca road ended and the unpaved ghat stretch started. In that stretch, there were two lodges. They went to the first one. Nothing, again.
2:45 am. They were inside the second one – Prasad Lodge. They found one entry without any identification proof. They asked for CCTV footage to see the guest. The boy at the reception said it was not working. This was met with two resounding slaps across his face.
ROOM NO 102
The frightened boy now was more than eager to take them to Room No 102, where he had checked in the stranger a little while ago. And doing the cops’ bidding, he pressed the doorbell, saying out loud. “Room service. I’ve got you water.”
There were some muffled sounds inside and then a distinct creak, as the door opened ajar. Immediately, Constable Chavan pushed open the door and Assistant Inspector Sandeep Buva rushed in and pinned the man on the ground. Head Constable Sanjay Bhapkar tied his hands and then turned him over. He pressed the switches on. A bald pate shone in the light. He knew instantly that they got the right man.
The fish was in the net!
GOT HIM!
“What’s your name,” they asked him. “Kiran Shinde,” pat came the reply. Assistant Inspector Bhuve pointed a revolver to his head and said, “Thok dunga agar jada sa bhi hoshiyari dikyai” (Will shoot if you try to act smart). A shrill reply came: “No, no, don’t shoot. I will tell u the truth. I am Kiran Gosavi.”
That was it!
They pulled him to his feet, trundled him out of the lodge, and bundled him into the car and left immediately. They reached the office of the Anti Extortion Cell of Crime Branch near Pune RTO office, Sangam Bridge, and locked Gosavi up in a cell. All three of them heaved a sigh of relief. And phoned the Commissioner and DCP crime: “We got him!”
GOSAVI SPEAKS
4:30 am. Commissioner and DCP Crime arrived and started preliminary interrogation.
Kiran Gosavi revealed that after he went underground, he moved to several states including Delhi, UP, MP, Rajasthan, Gujarat on trains. He covered around 12000 kms on trains. He used to reach one state, switch on his mobile briefly, and immediately leave for another state.
“His father was a policeman. So, he knew how the police operate. That’s why, he kept on moving from one state to another. However, we were tracking him all around and fixed traps to catch him. In one such trap, we caught him,” DCP Crime Branch Pune, Mr. Srinivas Ghatge said.
BREAKING NEWS
As morning dawned, a press conference was hurriedly called, and Kiran Gosavi was briefly paraded, albeit with face covered, in front of cameras and prying journos’ eyes as a prized catch before being whisked away for marathon interrogation.
A 420 case of 2018 was coming to a logical end in 2021, but a new investigation into a twisted saga of party drugs, insiders, conspiracies, and of lives entwined of the rich, powerful, and the famous had just begun.
