Gangster Prasad Pujari, accused of being concerned in a number of critical crimes together with homicide, extortion and kidnapping, was introduced again to India after his deportation from China within the wee hours of Saturday, and was then positioned beneath arrest by the Mumbai police, an official mentioned.
Gangster Pujari alias Subhash Vitthal Pujari alias Siddharth Shetty alias Siddhu alias Sidh alias Johny is a former member of the gangs led by gangsters Kumar Pillai and Chhota Rajan. He was staying in China, and was arrested there final yr. After that, the Mumbai police’s Crime Department constantly tried to carry him again to the nation, he mentioned.
Pujari is allegedly concerned in eight critical instances in Mumbai, together with firing, extortion and homicide. A resident of Tagore Nagar in Vikhroli, he had fled from the nation years in the past. He had allegedly focused builders and businessmen in japanese Mumbai, the crime department official mentioned.
Pujari’s title got here up within the case of firing on Shiv Sena employee Chandrakant Jadhav, who lived within the Vikhroli space, in December 2019. He was apprehended by authorities in Hong Kong in February 2023.
“Following a tip-off by the Interpol, Pujari was arrested in March last year in Hong Kong on the charges of possessing a fake passport. He was held when he was preparing to board a flight from Hong Kong to Shenzhen (city in China). Pujari, who is married to a Chinese national, was residing in Shenzhen with his wife and a child at the time of his arrest,” the official added.
In 2020, the Mumbai police’s crime department had arrested Pujari’s mom, Indira Vitthal Pujari, for her alleged involvement within the case of extortion of a builder from Vikhroli. She was arrested beneath the Maharashtra Management of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for allegedly extorting Rs 10 lakh from a developer, the official mentioned.
Prasad Pujari used to extort cash from businessmen and recognized individuals utilizing worldwide numbers as nicely and gave loss of life threats to among the main movie administrators, producers and Bollywood actors. His gang could be very energetic in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai localities, he added.
After being deported from China, he was delivered to India shortly round 1 am on Saturday. He was then positioned beneath arrest by the Mumbai police in one of many instances registered in opposition to him on the Vikhroli police station beneath sections together with 307 (try and homicide), 120-B (conspiracy) in addition to the MCOCA. The Anti Extortion Cell (AEC) of the crime department took him into custody, the official mentioned.