Ravi Pujari, who is wanted in India in a number of cases including extortion, kidnapping and murder cases, was on the run for the last 15 years
Bengaluru: The Senegal Police in West Africa have arrested gangster Ravi Pujari who is wanted in India in a number of cases including extortion, kidnapping and murder cases.
The Senegal Police were tipped off by the Indian investigative agencies. However, Indian officials are yet to confirm the arrest.
According to reports, the action against the gangster was taken after the Bengaluru City Police issued a red corner notice against him. He was on the run for at least 15 years.
Non-bailable warrants have been issued in several courts in India against Pujari. He was also worked with Chhota Rajan earlier. Both Pujari and Rajan came in contact with each other while working for underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's till the mid-1990s, when Dawood tried to kill Rajan.
A Bengaluru-based realtor had earlier filed a complaint that he was receiving extortion calls repeatedly since January from a person who introduced himself as Pujari. Based on the complaint, a case has been registered at Vijayanagar police station in Bengaluru.
Nataraj KN, 48, had told the police that Pujari had demanded Rs 1.5 crore from him and threatened that his movements were being tracked.
He had filed the complaint on January 12. On that day, Pujari had called Nataraj two times in the morning, but he had not answered the phone calls. But when the phone rang with the same number in the evening, his wife received the call and reportedly said that Pujari was demanding a ransom of Rs 1.5 crore and had given 10 days deadline for the same.
Pujari is also accused of threatening a number of Bollywood stars including Farah Khan, Mahesh Bhatt, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Karan Johar, Rakesh Roshan, and Shah Rukh Khan.