Two men arrested over shootout at Leena Maria Paul’s Kochi salon

Kochi: The probe into the recent sensational shootout at a beauty parlour in the heart of the city is picking up the pace. The Crime Branch has arrested two Ernakulam natives – Bilal and Vipin – the other day.

More arrests can be expected, investigative officers said.

It is said the arrested duo have close ties with a criminal gang from Perumbavoor, about 35 km from Kochi.

Probes had earlier revealed the involvement of Mumbai don Ravi Pujari’s aides in the crime. It is said his associates had hired Bilal and Vipin with the help of a gang in Kasaragod in northern Kerala.

The Crime Branch had pressed charges against Pujari for conspiracy, threat using weapon, blackmail, extortion and several arms acts. Investigators have found similarities between this case and one in Kasaragod’s Bevincha, where a contractor’s house was shot at.

Pujari hails from the state of Karnataka, which borders Kerala's Kasaragod district.

The bike-borne accused had shot at actress Leena Maria Paul’s beauty parlour with air pistols on December 15, 2018. Pujari had allegedly asked for Rs 25 crore from her a month earlier. The assailants had fled the scene after firing at the first floor of the building in Ernakulam. Four days later, Pujari called up a local TV station to claim responsibility for the attack.

This voice clip, validated scientifically, became evidence against him.

Leena is accused of defrauding Canara Bank in Chennai to the tune of Rs 19 crore.