Two Ravi Pujari gang members were by the police last month who provided the sleuths with crucial information.
Underworld don Ravi Pujari, who has evaded Indian agencies for years, has been arrested in western Africa's Senegal. The don was held by the Senegal authorities on January 22 and the Ministry of External Affairs is making all efforts to bring him to India.
Pujari, was produced before the Attorney General of Senegal on Wednesday where his lawyer El Hadji Diouf filed an application for interim release. The lawyer argued that that the accused feared for his life and pleaded to keep him in Senegal. The lawyer said the accused fears that if he is extradited to India, he is likely to face death.
After the hearing, he was sent back to Reubeus Prison, Senegal.According to sources, the formalities of extradition have begun and a team representing Indian authorities have contacted the concerned prosecutor in Senegal. If everything goes well, the extradition will be executed within one month, sources said,
Pujari runs a restaurant named Maharaja in Senegal and also used to call up businessmen in Mumbai and other Indian cities to extort money. Two weeks ago, the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai Police arrested a man with links to Pujari who provided the gangster's whereabouts to officials, sources said.
The accused, identified as William Rodrigues (21), had allegedly demanded Rs 2 crore from a developer in December 2018.
Another Pujari henchman Akash Shetty was also arrested by the police and both were charged under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
It was alleged that Rodrigues had provided details of a Goregaon based developer to Pujari, who later made threat calls to the victim and demanded extortion of Rs 2 crore in December, last year.
According to the deputy commissioner of police (detection), Dilip Sawant, after the complainant refused to comply with Pujari's demand, the gangster began to threaten Sawant's family members.
Pujari was shown as an accused in the extortion case and a Red Corner Notice was issued against him. Based on the inputs provided by Rodrigues, he was arrested on January 22.
Pujari who once worked for underworld don Chhota Rajan later formed his own network and started working independently. He separated from Chhota Rajan gang after the attack on the don in 2000 in Bangkok. Rising in the
Pujari's graph in the crime world rose after he started threatening Bollywood celebs to extort money. He allegedly tried to kill filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt. He was also alleged to be behind the firing at producer Ali Morani's Juhu bungalow.
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