Ravi Pujari
Ravi Pujari is an Indian gangster who was involved in various murders and threats to celebrities in India and Australia throughout the 2000s. In January 2019, he was arrested in Dakar, Senegal.
Criminal career
He started his criminal career at Andheri, Mumbai. He is a school dropout and was a small-time criminal until he killed rival Bala Zalte. He joined gangster Chhota Rajan who took a liking to him.
He moved to Dubai in the late 1990s and extorted from real estate builders. They parted ways after Dawood Ibrahim made an attempt on Rajan's life in Bangkok, Thailand in 2000.
In the mid-1990s, three of his men shot Om Prakash Kukreja of Kukreja in his Chembur office. Eight years later, a Navi Mumbai builder, Suresh Wadhwa, escaped an assassination attempt by ducking under his office desk.
As per the Sydney Morning Herald, Pujari was believed to be hiding in Australia then and had an Australian passport. He often calls up the police claiming to have targeted people close to Dawood or his aide Chhota Shakeel. On 13 February 2016 over the controversy of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) protests, Ravi Pujari threatened to eliminate hardliner Hurriyat faction Syed Ali Shah Geelani.[1]..
Threats to famous personalities
In 2017 and 2018, various activists in India including students and MLAs filed police complaints that they were receiving death threats from Ravi Pujari, now in Australia.[2] He had threatened them to stop opposing the Modi government, else they would be killed.[3]
In 2019 Kerala MLA P. C. George complained that he got threats from Ravi Pujari as death threats for his kids. Kerala Police verified that Mr George got calls from Senegal.[1]
Threat to Bollywood actors
From 2009 to 2013, Pujari threatened many Bollywood actors like Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Karan Johar, Rakesh Roshan, and Shahrukh Khan. Ravi Pujari threatened Shah Rukh Khan for his relationship with Karim Morani who is a friend and business partner of Shah Rukh Khan.[4][5]
Arrest
On 21 January 2019, Pujari was arrested from a barber shop in Dakar, Senegal where he was living with his family under the name Anthony Fernandes. Mumbai police were then preparing a request for his extradition.[6]
He held a Burkina Faso passport.[7] Previously, he was believed to be residing in Australia.[8]
He was extradited to India as per procedure on 23 February 2020 and was arrested and brought to Bangalore, India on 24 February 2020 by a four-member police team of the Karnataka Police.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Bilal Bashir Bhat (13 February 2016). "Underworld don threatens to kill Syed Ali Geelani - Only Kashmir". Only Kashmir. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
- ^ Koutsoukis, Jason. "Indian 'don' Ravi Pujari may be running racket from Australia, police say".
- ^ "Ravi Pujari telephones MLA from Australia seeking financial help". The Hindu. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
- ^ "Shah Rukh khan threatened by gangster Ravi Pujari, security tightened". IndiaTV. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
- ^ Isha Sharma (17 August 2015). "Gangster Ravi Pujari's Funny Barter With Arijit Singh. Sing Songs For Me Or Pay Rs 5 Crore". IndiaTimes. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
- ^ "Mumbai police to prepare dossier for Ravi Pujari's extradition". Retrieved 7 February 2019.
- ^ https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/ravi-pujari-busted-at-senegal-barbers/articleshow/67801525.cms
- ^ "Mumbai gang war comes to Bangalore - The Times of India". TNN. 12 July 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
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