Crime Branch officers arrested a five-member gang on Friday for its involvement in the murder of three housewives in different parts of city in the last three years. The gang was nabbed while planning another dacoity at Girgaon.

According to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Pradeep Sawant, the gang members confessed to their crimes committed using similar modus operandi. They had targetted housewives who were alone. In the first case, they had killed 65-year-old Dolly Khansab while she was watching television with her sister Nargis at her residence in Sai Ashirwad building in Bhayander on August 21, 1995.

After gaining entry posing as her brother's friends, the robbers tied up Dolly, robbed the place of property worth Rs 80,000 and had killed Dolly before fleeing.

The gang struck again at Sita Nagar, Mira Road on August 18, 1998. Sharda Khanna was alone in her flat after her husband Girdhar had left for work. By evening she was deadwith both her hands tied behind her neck with her salwar and legs tied up with dupatta. Property worth Rs 16,000 were found missing.

On February 5 this year, the gang killed Lata Gupta when was alone in her flat in Ashokvan building, Borivli (E). She was strangled to death with her duppata. The killers had escaped with property worth Rs 1.90 lakh leaving no clues.

Following their arrest on Friday, a country-made revolver with three live rounds, a 12 bore `katta', a chopper and a knife have been recovered from the gangsters. They have been identified as Ramlu Chinnya, Vijay Prasad, Mohammed Jalal Sheikh, Vipul Rathod and Teju Ansari.

Schoolboy's murder -- Life in jail for two

The City Civil and Sessions Court on Friday sentenced two persons to life imprisonment for murdering a schoolboy after robbing him of Rs 13,000 with a promise to get him passed in SSC examinations in 1995.

Additional Sessions Judge S S Bidkar sentenced Raja Mahendra Joshi alias Rajesh and Honhar Rajkishore Pande aliasHafiz to life imprisonment. Special public prosecutor J K Tandulekar appeared for the state.

According to the prosecution, Mitul Paleja had appeared for the SSC examinations in March 1995 as a private candidate. Since he did not fare too well in some papers, he approached Rajesh Joshi who offered to get him passed for Rs 13,000. Since his father refused to pay, Mitul borrowed Rs 10,000 from a friend and Rs 3,000 from an aunt.

Joshi and his associates had then kidnapped Mitul and demanded a ransom of Rs 8 lakh. While the police nabbed Hafiz at Vikhroli on June 19, his accomplice assaulted Mitul with a hammer at Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivli and left him for dead. A tribal found the boy in an unconscious state and severely injured. He was rushed to Bhagwati hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.