A 43-year-old associate of notorious gangster Ravi Pujari was arrested by the Pune Crime Branch’s Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC), for allegedly threatening a builder to settle a land dispute in Kharadi on Saturday.The arrested person has been identified as Naresh Jayram Shetty, who also works as a real estate agent. Originally hailing from Karkal in Udipi district of Karnataka, Shetty has been staying in Pune for the past eight years.
AEC has lodged a complaint against Ravi Pujari, Kailash Baban Pathare, a resident of survey no. 14 in Kharadi, Shetty and two others with the Dattawadi police.According to the police, the builder had bought a piece of land at survey no. 14 from Pathare’s grandfather in 2004, when the Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) Act was in existence, and began construction. Later, the state government scrapped ULC Act, following which the land prices in Kharadi shot through the roof due to rapid development including IT parks, malls and sprawling posh residential buildings.
However, Pathare started asking the builder to cough up more money for the land as the price increased over the years and the builder was given the land for development.
Assistant commissioner of police (Crime I) Rajendra Bhamare said, “Pujari made international calls to the builder and his manager and threatened them to settle the land dispute. He sent his local henchman Shetty and others for a meeting with the builder’s manager at a hotel on November 16 to settle the issue.”
Police investigations further reveal that Pujari had made international calls to the builder from different countries. He even called the builder after Shetty’s arrest threatening him with dire consequences if he was not released soon.
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