The two were allegedly planning to kill a member of the rival gang, said police.
Mumbai police today claimed to have foiled a deadly gang war, with the arrest of two suspected aides of Chhota Shakeel's gang, who allegedly conspired to gun down two key lieutenants of a rival group headed by Chhota Rajan in the sessions court premises in Mumbai.
DK Rao, who allegedly has a history of recruiting sharpshooters and lieutenants for mafia don Chhota Rajan gang, was one of the two targets, police said.
Chhota Shakeel allegedly planned to kill Mr Rao in the sessions court premises in Mumbai, when he was brought for hearing from Taloja jail in the neighbouring Navi Mumbai city, they said.
"Acting on a tip-off, a trap was laid and the accused Mohammed Mahir Siddhique (30) and Akhtar Jamal Khan (35) who are both associates of gangster Chhota Shakeel were arrested
near Noor Hotel at Dharavi in Central Mumbai yesterday," said Sadanand Date, Joint Police Commissioner, Crime.
"A sophisticated 0.32 bore revolver, four live cartridges and incriminating articles were confiscated from them. The joint operation by the Anti-Extortion cell and the Crime Intelligence Unit prevented a major crime in the nick of time," Mr Date said.
The second target also was a key member of the Chhota Rajan gang, he said.
Mohammed Siddhique, who has been arrested, was acquitted earlier, in a fake passport case registered against him by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad.
Mr Siddhique was released from jail in February, after which he arrived in Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh a few months ago, he said. Akhtar Jamal Khan, who is the second accused, has criminal cases registered against him in the city, he said.
Both the arrested gangsters were in direct touch with Chhota Shakeel, who is a close associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, he said.
"Shakeel ensured that cash and weapons reached the two, who were constantly planning to execute the killings," he said.
Mr Date said that the accused were in the final stage of executing the plan when they were caught. "They were produced before court today which remanded them to police custody till
September 9," he said.
"We are trying to ascertain the reason for choosing these targets and how much money was offered to carry out this act," Mr Date said.