The Thane City police SIT Thursday arrested two more persons including the suspected shooter in connection with the murder of Pradeep Purnekar, the Shiv Sena UBT shakha pramukh who was stabbed and shot dead on Tuesday night.

With the earlier arrest of Purnekar’s aide-turned-rival Pappya Shinde, a total of three persons have been arrested in the Shiv Sena leader murder case so far. Two more accused are currently on the run.

A senior official from the SIT confirmed that two accused identified as Nikhil Yadav and Nitesh Pawar have been arrested from near Raigad on the Mumbai – Goa highway.

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The official said, “Currently two more accused including one Santosh Kanojia alias Talli and another unidentified accused seen wearing a helmet are on the run,” the officer said.

The officer however refused to clarify who was the shooter and the accused who stabbed the deceased. “ Once we manage to arrest the other absconding accused and interrogate them together will we get clarity on the exact roles of the accused,” the officer said. The SIT has also called two Mira Road based women for enquiry.

While the FIR was initially registered at the Kapurbawdi police station, the probe was handed over to the Thane crime branch and an SIT was formed under DCP Amar Sinh Jadhav comprising other senior officers to look into the incident.

On Thursday, a supplementary statement by Purnekar’s son named several people, including former Thane mayor Meenakshi Shinde and her husband Rajendra Shinde, for investigation. The Shinde couple denied the allegations. Police said the SIT was examining several possible motives behind the killing.

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Ram also asked the SIT to examine another possible angle involving a local woman, whom his father had allegedly caught with two men in a room and handed over to Kapurbawdi police. According to Ram, the woman was later released with a warning and was subsequently seen near Purnekar’s office.