The Mumbai police are hot on fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari's heels, and this has forced the don to shift his focus to the neighbouring cities of Thane and Navi Mumbai. The Mumbai crime branch, in the last few years, has successfully thwarted all of Pujari's attempts by arresting his men before they could execute any of his orders.
According to crime branch officers, in the last few months, Pujari has not made any extortion calls in Mumbai. However, he and his men have been active in Thane and Navi Mumbai in that period and demanded extortion money from politicians, cable operators and builders, they added.
"Our officers have done a good job in nullifying the threat of Pujari and have arrested his men before they could carry out his orders," said additional commissioner of police (crime) KMM Prasanna. "There is reason to suspect that he is trying to target people from Thane and Navi Mumbai as he is not been able to create fear here in Mumbai."
On March 30, a builder from Dombivli, Ram Bhagat, complained to the police that he received a call from an international number, wherein the caller identified himself as Ravi Pujari and demanded Rs2 crore.
The caller also threatened to kill Bhagat if he did not pay up.
In a similar such threatening call allegedly made by the gangster on March 9 to a small-time builder, Kunal Patil, from Dombivli, the caller demanded Rs50 lakh. Last December, a cable operator from Ambernath, Aniket Mhatre, had complained to the police that he had received a call from someone who identified himself as Ravi Pujari and demanded Rs2 crore from him.
