MUMBAI: In a rather shocking incident a leader of Shiv Sena (UBT) Abhishek Ghosalkar was shot thrice on February 8 evening when he was speaking live on Facebook (FB) about his political work and about the collaboration with the FB live host and assailant Mauris Noronha. The assailant was later also found dead, suspected to have shot himself. 

The incident took place in the IC Colony area, of suburban Borivali district, which is northmost of Mumbai, and the assailant Noronha has been identified to be an aspirant for a civic elections ticket from the area. 

In a video clip that has gone viral Noronha who called himself to be a social worker in IC Colony and surrounding areas also seen in the Facebook live video, talking to Abhishek about the plans to work for the area. Abhishek says that the two have come together to do good for the society collectively.

As soon as the session comes to an end Abhishek is seen getting up to step outside the room, Noronha opens several rounds of fire at him, the first bullet hits Abhishek in the abdomen and then on his shoulder as he rushes towards Noronha but the firing shots continue in the background even as live streaming was still continuing. Ghosalkar was rushed to the nearby Karuna Hospital in north Mumbai but was declared dead on arrival.

According to police who are now investigating the matter in detail, after the firing Noronha went to the rooftop of the office, loaded the pistol with bullets, and shot himself in the head. Officials said that initially five rounds were fired from the 15-cartridge capacity pistol believed to be Noronha's private bodyguard Mishra’s licensed pistol, out of which four bullets hit Ghosalkar.

The police said that they have filed a case against deceased Noronha under section 302 of the IPC, Sections 3 and 25 of the Arms Act, Section 37 (1) (A), and Section 135 of the Maharashtra Police Act. Police later said that Noronha had a criminal background and had several cases against him.

Abhishek is a former corporator whereas his father, Uddhav Sena MLA Vinod Ghosalkar was an MLA (2009-2014) from Dahisar region. Abhishek's wife Tejaswi was also an ex-corporator from Ward no 1, which includes parts of Borivali and Dahisar. After the postmortem mortal remains of Ghosalkar were brought to his residence in Borivali at 10.30 am after completing the post-mortem at J.J. Hospital.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) has hit at the present government led by Eknath Shinde, UBT Sena MLA and former minister Aaditya Thackeray said, “There is a government of goons in the state. There is no law and order in the state. First, the firing took place in Kalyan and now it is taking place in Mumbai.”