Mumbai: Mumbai Police has introduced again infamous gangster Prasad Vitthal Pujari – who was arrested in February 2023 after an Interpol discover – within the first deportation of a wished fugitive by China, officers mentioned right here on Saturday.
Pujari (44), a resident of Mumbai's Vikhroli suburb, arrived right here by a morning flight, surrounded by a workforce of Mumbai Law enforcement officials. He was stored within the police lockup earlier than his formal arrest by the anti-extortion cell of the crime department.
Pujari was later produced earlier than a particular court docket beneath the Maharashtra Management of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA), which despatched him to 14-day police custody.
Pujari was residing in China and Hong Kong for the final 20 years utilizing varied aliases like Subhash, Siddharth Shetty, Sid, Johnny and so forth.
From his bases, he ran extortion rackets focusing on politicians, businessmen, movie personalities, producer-directors and different celebs utilizing worldwide SIM playing cards and phone numbers. Police mentioned there have been at the very least eight instances of main crimes registered towards him in varied police stations in Mumbai.
A resident of Tagore Nagar in Vikhroli suburb, Pujari began his gangland profession with the gang of Kumar Pillai and Chhota Rajan Nikhalje (each exiled) almost three a long time in the past.
Nevertheless, after variations arose with him, he parted methods to kind his personal impartial 'Mafia Firm', which aimed to extort large sums of cash by threatening the massive fish, principally within the Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane areas.
At one time in 2019, he was concerned within the firing on Shiv Sena chief Chandrakant Jadhav, who survived, however this solely served to extend his concern among the many wealthy and highly effective.
Following an Interpol tip-off and performing on a 2012 Red Nook Discover, Pujari was arrested in Hong Kong in February 2023 on costs of possessing a faux passport.
The priest, married to a Chinese language girl and with a baby, was planning to fly from Hong Kong to Shenzhen on the time of his arrest.
As quickly as Mumbai Police got here to find out about his arrest, it initiated deportation/extradition proceedings towards Pujari final yr and at last managed to carry him again after a yr of efforts.
In 2020, Mumbai Police had arrested Pujari's mom, Indira Vitthal Pujari, for her alleged involvement within the kidnapping-cum-extortion case of a Vikhroli builder to extort Rs 10 lakh and working her racket by proxy.
Following Kumar Pillai's extradition by Singapore, Pujari took over his enterprise and began firing, kidnappings, homicide makes an attempt, issuing loss of life threats and working an extortion racket focusing on distinguished personalities in and round Mumbai.
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