Bengaluru: A local court on Friday remanded intercontinental gangster Ravi Pujari to 14-day judicial custody after the completion of 10-day police custody, a police official said. He is now lodged at the Parappana Agraharra.
Pujari (52), who was brought from Senegal on Feb 22, was in CCB custody till now. The CCB grilled him in connection with the Tilaknagar shootout double murder case, which occurred in 2007, and money collection.
“We produced Pujari in the court on Friday and he has been remanded to judicial custody,” Central Crime Branch Deputy Commissioner of Police Kuldeep Jain told IANS.
He said the police will seek the underworld don’s custody for interrogation in other cases.
“I hope the judge will give Pujari’s custody to us for further interrogation,” said Jain.
Meanwhile, the Kerala and Maharastra police have also sought custody of Pujari. Police from both the states made an appeal to the Karnataka police seeking his custody to investigate the various pending cases against him.
According to sources, Pujari is opposed to his transfer to Maharastra fearing an encounter by the local police.
A four-member Karnataka police team led by Additional Director General of Police A.K. Pandey brought the underworld don to Bengaluru from Dakar in Senegal via Paris in an Air France scheduled flight.
Of the over 200 cases against Pujari in the southern state, 39 are in Bengaluru, 36 at Mangaluru, 11 in Udupi on the state’s west coast and one each at Mysuru, Hubballi-Dharwad, Kolar and Shivamogga in Malnad.
The other cases are in Mumbai (49) and in Gujarat (75) pertaining to extortion, kidnapping, ransom demand and murder threats.
Pujari also extorted huge amounts from popular Bollywood stars and realtors, with involvement in an attempt to murder case, aimed at killing a prominent lawyer of Mumbai.
(With inputs from IANS)
