Retired man posed as Ravi Pujari to extort money, held

Unit IX of the Mumbai crime branch has arrested a 57-year-old retired man for allegedly extorting money from a Vile Parle-based Shiv Sena shakha pramukh and three corporators.

The arrested accused, identifying himself as fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari, demanded money from the victims. He has been identified as Suresh Arjun Gavade, a resident of Shiv Tekadi in Jogeshwari (East) who used to work in a mill before retiring a few years ago.

According to the police, Nitin Govind Dinchalkar, who is in the construction business and is a Shiv Sana shakha pramukh of Vile Parle (East), filed a compliant in Vile Parle police
station around two to  three months ago, stating that a person calling himself Ravi Pujari was  demanding Rs3 lakh
from him.

A parallel inquiry was started by crime branch officials who found that the calls were being made via local numbers which were traced to Jogeshwari.

“We laid a trap in the area and finally managed to catch Gavade, who later confessed to his crime,” said police inspector Sanjay Satardekar, crime branch (unit IX), adding, “In the interrogation, we discovered that Gavade has committed similar offences in the past.”

Gavade was arrested in Jogeshwari and handed over to the Vile Parle police station for further investigation.