‘Ravi Pujari’ man held for extortion calls

The anti-extortion cell of the city crime branch on Monday arrested a 31-year-old man for allegedly demanding protection money from the human resources department head of one of the leading telecom companies in the city at the behest of gangster Ravi Pujari.

The police are investigating into who provided details about the victim to Vinod Raghuvanshi alias Vinod Singh alias Bade.

The police claimed that on November 4, 2011, the complainant (name withheld) had received an SMS from an unknown number saying “Main Ravi Pujari ka aadmi bol raha hoon…protection money Rs10lakh de do…” (I am a Ravi Pujari man, give Rs10lakh protection money).

“The victim ignored the SMS, but the next day his wife received a phone call and the caller issued the same threat. Between November 21 and 30, 2011, the victim received several similar calls and he finally lodged a police complaint at the Antop Hill police station,” said a crime branch officer.

The officer said that investigations revealed that the calls were made from public call booths and a mobile phone. The telephone surveillance then led the police to Raghuvanshi, who lives in Sector-1 at Airoli.

The police seized one dual SIM mobile phone, an SIM card and a pen drive from Raghuvanshi.

“We are investigating into how Raghuvanshi got details about the victim such as his mobile number and other personal numbers and also if he indeed is a Ravi Pujari man or just using his name to extort money,” the officer said.

He has been remanded in police custody till May 3.