KOCHI: Police have recovered a pellet suspected to be of a .22 caliber air pistol from a hole on the wall right next to the top of the staircase at the building at Kadavanthra where two unidentified assailants came on a bike on Saturday and opened fired. Police said they will analyse the pellet to find the type of gun and also to track down the accused.They had fired the pistol before dropping a paper with the name of the gangster ‘Ravi Poojari’ written on it. The assailants, police said, had almost reached the first floor where The Nail Artistry, a salon run by actress Leena Maria Paul who was arrested and acquitted earlier in a cheating case, was functioning.“We are on a statewide hunt to find the accused based on the make and model of the bike they were using. We suspect that someone was using some local thugs to scare someone. Considering the history of the actress, it could be someone holding a grudge against her; however this needs to be verified. We are hoping to take her statement on Monday and things would be clearer then,” said Kochi city deputy police commissioner J Himendranth.Officers said they are not dismissing the involvement of a Mumbai-based gang behind the attack. “What we suspect is that someone had hired the duo to act on the crime. It could be someone connected to Ravi Poojari or someone using his name to create panic. An investigation on this is going on to find whether there is a Mumbai connection to the incident, especially considering the speculations over the actress getting threat calls earlier itself,” a police officer said.Earlier on Saturday, police was suspecting the use of a toy gun. “We had the suspicion that a gun without pellets was used as the noise was low. However, a scientific expert managed to recover the pellet,” said an officer.Meanwhile, police are hoping to get a full picture of the incident by recording the statement of the actress. “We are yet to collect her statement as she was engaged otherwise due to some personal reasons. She is likely to give her statement on Monday,” the DCP said. tnn

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