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The police said the gang would accept 'jobs' from the Chhota Rajan, Ravi Pujari, Prasad Pujari and Kumar Pillai gangs to kill rivals at a cost of Rs 3-4 lakh per killing.

"The eight arrested include a former Chhota Rajan gang member, Vijay Vasant Kedari (37), for their roles in murder and robbery cases. After the arrests, we came to know that they were outsourcing the job of killing people for big bucks. So far, five cases have been detected," ATS chief Rakesh Maria said.

He added that the gang had, however, not outsourced any job by the Dawood Ibrahim-Chhota Shakeel gang yet.

"They were working in a very systematic manner. We hope to get more information soon," Maria added.

The ATS has recovered two hand-guns, three pistols, a revolver, 49 live cartridges, a magazine, a Santro and a Honda City, and 14 mobile phones from the accused.

"On October 6, 2007, a driver was shot dead. Five people were arrested for conspiracy and for providing weapons. The same day, in Ulhasnagar, the gang killed another person. Similarly, on January 6 this year, a person was shot dead, while an associate was seriously injured, in Kalwa. The gang was behind all the cases," Maria added.

Kedari was convicted for the April 2, 2001 murder of Vinayak Bakalkar in Ratnagiri. He escaped when out on parole for three weeks in April 2009. Maria said he was was running the jail's operations from Navi Mumbai. Kedari and his aides have been remanded in police custody.