Builder-influencer held with cache of weapons in Thane district

THANE: (Mar 31) A 55-year-old builder and social media influencer has been arrested for alleged possession of a cache of weapons in Maharashtra’s Thane district, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, Surendra Panduranga Patil, who has more than three lakh followers on Instagram, was arrested on Saturday night, just a week after being released on bail in a separate case, an official said.

“Acting on a tip-off, our team searched Patil’s bungalow in the Dawdi area of Dombivli late on Saturday night. We recovered a cache of weapons hidden behind a fake panel of a newly installed shoe rack that did not match the house’s interior,” the official from the Crime Branch said.