AURANGABAD: The Ahmednagar police on Tuesday arrested Vishal Kotkar , the Congress winner of the Kedgaon bypoll, for his alleged role in the murder of two Shiv Sena leaders earlier this month.Deputy chief of the Shiv Sena Ahmednagar unit, Sanjay Kotkar , and his friend, Vasant Thube, were shot and stabbed to death in Kedgaon on April 7, hours after the bypoll results were announced.The Sena candidate in the bypoll had narrowly lost to Vishal Kotkar.Police said Vishal was arrested from a family-run hotel in Kamargaon, which is located about 15 kilometres from Ahmednagar city. He was produced in the Ahmednagar sessions court on Tuesday and remanded in police custody for four days.According to the police, Vishal allegedly called up Sandeep Gunjal after receiving calls from Ravi Kollam, a local Sena worker, saying he was being blamed by Sanjay Kotkar for the party loss. Both Gunjal and Kollam have been arrested.Police said Vishal was involved in the family business of running hotels in and around Ahmednagar. His uncle, Bhanudas, and other family members have been public representatives or were in politics but Vishal had made taken a first shot at public life.After Bhanudas was convicted in a murder case, a bypoll for his seat in Kedgaon was called. The family then persuaded Vishal to contest the polls, which he won on April 7. He does not have any criminal record against him in any of the police stations in the district.Sources said the investigation team is hoping to recover Vishal's mobile phone to gather any recordings of the calls he made on that day.

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