Two days after taking gangster Ravi Pujari into custody, the Mumbai crime branch team reached Mumbai early morning on Tuesday. Wanted in 49 cases registered against him in Mumbai, Pujari will be produced before the MCOCA court later in the day, confirmed officials.
On Sunday, the Mumbai Police team comprising Inspector Ajay Sawant took Pujari into custody in Karnataka and left for Mumbai by road. Heavy security arrangements had been made for his journey to Mumbai, and appropriate arrangements were made in Mumbai as well, where he will be lodged, confirmed a senior police official.
Following the approval from Senegal authorities permitting him to be tried in cases registered against him in Mumbai, the Bengaluru court on Saturday passed an order and granted his custody to the Mumbai Police.
"Though there are 49 cases registered against him in Mumbai, we will seek his custody in 10 serious offences in which the stringent MCOCA has been imposed," said an official.
On Tuesday, the police will seek his custody in the 2016 firing in Gajalee restaurant—one of his henchmen had fired at restaurant staff to allegedly extort its owner for money.
His custody will be taken in the rest of the nine cases one after another. These include murder of Chembur-based builder Om Prakash Kukreja, firing on the partner of Deepa Bar and Restaurant Humayun Chandivala, attempt to murder of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, Suresh Wadhwa, advocate Majeed Memon, and killing of two employees of builder Sudhakar Shetty.
He also has several cases registered against him for issuing threats to Bollywood stars, including Akshay Kumar, Karan Johar, Shah Rukh Khan, and Rakesh Roshan.
In February 2019, Pujari was extradited to India from Senegal, after which, he was in Karnataka.
