Pujari's extradition: Senior cop to fly to Senegal

An ADGP-rank officer from the Karnataka State Police will soon fly to Senegal to facilitate the easy extradition of gangster Ravi Pujari (50), who was detained from a barber shop there on January 19.

The Ministry of External Affairs has granted clearance to a senior police officer to travel to Senegal to complete the process of extradition of Pujari. Rajneesh Goyal, Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, refused to comment on which officer will be heading to Senegal and when.

Since India has no bilateral ties with Senegal on an extradition treaty, the authorities are looking to extradite Pujari under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, adopted in 2000, a senior officer said.

According to sources, Pujari has hired a top lawyer in Senegal for Rs 7 crore to contest his extradition procedure. Since Senegal does not have capital punishment, the extradition process might require a guarantee that Pujari shall not be executed even if he is convicted under Indian laws, sources said.

Indian authorities are confident of a successful extradition process as Senegal is tough on international criminals, with fugitives from Italy and China extradited in recent times. The Dakar police in Senegal had located and detained Pujari from a barber shop in January this year after he was tracked across West African countries with the help of Indian authorities, who received information about him becoming a business partner in a restaurant chain named 'Namaste India'.

There are 97 extortion cases against Pujari in Karnataka alone. There are two cases in Mangaluru, from where he hails. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in one case.