On Friday afternoon, the 64-year-old Bhosale, a former police constable, shot at his two sons at his Walkeshwar apartment. While elder son Ganesh died soon after, younger son Rajesh is in a critical condition.

According to police, both the brothers had been having arguments with Bhosale for their share in the property. They wanted to set up own businesses. Senior police inspector Iqbal Shaikh of Malabar Hill police said: “Keshav owns three flats in the Parshva Apartments building at Banganga and also a couple of shops in the Malabar Hill area. His sons did not have any steady income and they depended on Keshav for their expenses. From what we have gathered so far, Keshav used to give them a monthly allowance of around Rs 30,000 to Rs 35,000 for their expenses.”

Shaikh said the sons had tried their hand at various businesses, but these ventures did not take off.

Bhosale, who hails from Khed in Ratnagiri district, was dismissed from the police force following a smuggling case in which he was allegedly involved. The former police constable, who had unsuccessfully contested for the Khed Assembly seat twice, had amassed significant wealth in Mumbai.

“Relatives’ statements show that Keshav did not trust his sons to succeed in their business ventures and this had led to many arguments among them. On Friday afternoon too, when the sons had come to Keshav’s residence for the death anniversary rituals of their mother, they had an altercation and this led to the firing incident,” Shaikh said.

Asked about the recovery of an ornamental sword from the crime scene, Shaikh said investigations are on in this regard. “We are in the process of taking statements of those present at the house when the incident occurred,” he said.

Keshav had suffered a deep injury on his right arm near the elbow, which appears to have been inflicted by the sword.