Mumbai, Feb. 10 (IANS): Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray has raised doubts over the killing of his party leader Abhishek Ghosalkar during a Facebook Live interaction on February 8, asking “whether any third person was involved” in the sensational crime.

Speaking to the media here on Saturday, Thackeray said several questions have cropped up over Ghosalkar's murder, which people saw during a live-stream on social media.

“What we can see is that Ghosalkar and Mauris Noronha are sitting together. Then, the latter (Mauris) leaves, and bullets are suddenly fired at Ghosalkar. We are told that he (Mauris) had also shot himself. But it is not clear who fired the rounds. It needs to be probed if there was any ‘third person’ who opened fire (at Mauris),” Thackeray said.

The former CM also found it strange that if Mauris, as claimed, indeed wanted to take revenge on Ghosalkar over some old rivalries, asking, “Why did he commit suicide in that case? The matter needs to be properly probed."

Meanwhile, a preliminary autopsy report of Ghosalkar has revealed that he was hit not by three, but four bullets, of the total five rounds fired at him that were visible in the Facebook Live session that evening inside Mauris’ office in Borivali West.

As the bullets were fired from close quarters, Ghosalkar suffered extensive bleeding and haemorrhage, which have been cited as the cause of the death in the autopsy report at the J.J. Hospital here.

Meanwhile, a major political row has erupted in the state after the incident, which is being probed by multiple teams of the Mumbai Police Crime Branch and the MHB police station.

So far, one person -- Amarendra Mishra, the bodyguard of Mauris -- has been arrested under the Arms Act, while two others were detained for questioning in the matter.