MUMBAI: Gangster Ravi Pujari, on the run for 20 years, was hauled to India on Sunday by officers from the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Karnataka Police, who camped in Senegal for three days to obtain the fugitives custody. The plane carrying Pujari arrived in Delhi on Sunday afternoon via Paris. Pujari is the latest in a long line of criminals including Abu Salem, Chhota Rajan, Ejaz Lakdawala to have been deported or extradited to India.
Sources said Pujari was taken to an undisclosed location where he was questioned by RAW, IB and Union home ministry officials for more than four hours. A source said he was showing symptoms of high blood pressure and diabetes. He was taken to a hospital for a check-up before being handed over to Karnataka Police. In the evening, he was to be flown to Bengaluru, as confirmed to TOI by Karnataka DG & IGP Praveen Sood.
Pujari, who jumped bail and went missing after being nabbed in Senegal 13 months ago, was rearrested in a remote village in South Africa on Saturday and taken back to Senegal.
Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai told TOI th e ministry of external affairs had coordinated Pujaris deportation. “(He was to be) brought to Bengaluru as early as possible. There were a few legal hurdles which have been sorted out,” Bommai said.
Pujari has over 200 cases against him in India, including murder, attempt to murder and extortion. Ninety of those cases are in Karnataka, including 39 in Bengaluru and 36 in Mangaluru. The most well known of them include the murder of builder Om Prakash Kukreja and an attempt on the life of advocate and MP Majeed Memon.
Senior Union home ministry and external affairs ministry officials coordinated with Senegalese authorities to deport Pujari at the earliest. Compared to extradition, a long-drawn process, deportation is simpler. The team that was with Pujari on his flight included Bengaluru cops led by joint commissioner of police Sandeep Patil, and additional DGP Amar Kumar Pandey.
Ne ws of Ravi Pujaris rearrest was kept secret as the agencies did not want to risk a repeat of what happened last year: Pujari got a false cheating case registered againRead More – Source
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