Fugitive Bollywood Extortionist & Underworld Don Ravi Pujari Brought To India From Senegal
Underground don Ravi Pujari 52 was arrested in South Africa on February 23 and flown to Bengaluru where he was produced before court today. He was nabbed in a remote South African village where he had been hiding with a false identity as Anthony Fernandes a Burkina Faso passport holder. He jumped bail from Senegal last year and escaped to South Africa and got involved in big-time trafficking and extortion sources said.
Underworld don Ravi Pujari, 52, was arrested in South Africa on February 23 and flown to Bengaluru, where he was produced before court today.
"A four-member Karnataka Police team brought Pujari to Bengaluru in the wee hours of the day in an Air France flight via Paris after he was extradited from Senegal in Africa," City Crime Branch Deputy Commissioner of Police Kuldeep Jain told news agency IANS.
The police team was led by state Additional Director General of Police AK Pandey and Bengaluru joint commissioner of police Sandeep Patil, a police inspector and a constable.
File Photo
"Pujari will be produced in the first Additional City Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) court in the city for judicial custody," Jain said.
Pujari was taken to an undisclosed place in the city from the international airport under tight security.
According to the Indian Intelligence sources, Pujari was nabbed in a remote South African village where he was hiding with a false identity as Anthony Fernandes, a Burkina Faso passport holder.
"Pujari had jumped bail from Senegal last year and escaped to South Africa and got involved in big-time trafficking and extortion," sources said.
On a tip-off from the Indian intelligence, the Senegal police flew to South Africa last week.
Pujari had parted ways with another underworld don, Chota Rajan, and is wanted in more than 200 cases of heinous crimes, including murder and extortion, was detained with the help of the South African agencies.
File Photo
The mafioso shot to notoriety in early 2000 when he started extorting huge amounts from famous Bollywood personalities and builders. He was involved in an attempt to murder case, aimed at killing a prominent lawyer of Mumbai.
Pujari's wife Padma and three children also fled India and some of them hold Burkina Faso passports. His son, who was recently married in Australia, reportedly holds an Australian passport.
Last year Pujari, living under the identity of Anthony, jumped bail from a Senegal court through fraudulent means.
Pujari, a movie junkie influenced by Amitabh Bachchan's portrayal as Anthony Gonsalves in "Amar Akbar Anthony" was using the name Anthony Fernandes
