Two Ravi Pujari shooters held
The duo were allegedly trying to extort Rs 10 crore from Thane builder
After having unearthed an extortion racket involving Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Shakeel and Iqbal Kaskar, wherein jewellers and builders were being threatened, the Thane Police have arrested two sharpshooters, from Ravi Pujari's gang, who were threatening a well-known builder from Thane to cough up Rs 10 crore extortion.
Pujari himself was behind those calls. One of the shooters was also involved in threatening the owner of well-known saree shop over a monetary dispute in 2004. The arrested duo have been identified as Ghatkopar resident Dinesh Narayan Rai, 51, and Malad resident Nitin Gopal Rai, 42.
According to the police, specific information was received by inspector Pradeep Sharma posted with Thane Anti-Extortion Cell, that two associates of Pujari gang would be arriving at a builder's office at Paatli Pada at Ghodbunder Road in Thane to carry out firing, on Friday since the builder had not paid the extortion money.
Subsequently, two teams were formed, a trap was laid and around 6 pm they were nabbed. "We have recovered two pistols and four live cartridges. They confirmed that they were working for Pujari," said Pradeep Sharma.