The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime court remanded underworld gangster Ravi Pujari in police custody till March 9 in a case of firing outside a hotel in suburban Mumbai in 2016.
Pujari was extradited to India from Senegal in February 2020 and produced before the court on Monday after being brought from Bengaluru.
The case against him is that on October 21, 2016, a few shots were fired by Pujari’s gang members at complainant, the owner of the hotel in Vile Parle. They are alleged to have given Pujari’s contact details to the owner but he didn’t call him. The shooter and seven others were arrested.
Special judge DE Kothalikar remanded Mr. Pujari in the anti-extortion cell’s custody till March 9.
Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Milind Bharambe told reporters that 49 cases have been registered against Pujari in various parts of the city, including on charges of murder, attempt to murder and extortion. “The Mumbai police had submitted strong evidence against Pujari in connection with 10 cases before a Senegal court and requested for his extradition. The Senegal court had passed the extradition order after a lot of arguments with the defence lawyer in the court,” he said.
“After the Karnataka court granted sanction for his handover, he was brought to Mumbai from Bengaluru. He was produced before the Mumbai court where we got his custody till March 9 in the Vile Parle case. Efforts are on to get his custody in connection with other cases also.”
He said, “The Mumbai police will now interrogate him and collect evidence as well as information about his associates and supporters.”
On April 25, 2018, the special MCOCA court convicted 10 members from Mr. Pujari’s gang for five years for threatening to kill producer-director Mahesh Bhatt and his family members.
