Hotelier gets threat call from Aussie don

Hotelier Rajeev Shetty, recently caned by a policeman for keeping his joint at Dinnur main road open beyond stipulated time, told police that he received threat calls from an Australian underworld don.

Two calls

Shetty's joint received two calls from the don on Monday and Tuesday.

His hotel staff said the first call came at about 10.15 pm Monday night, when a man speaking on voice-over internet protocol identified himself as Ravi Poojari, an underworld don from Australia.

Poojari asked Shetty to shut down the joint in half an hour, else his men would storm the hotel and shoot. Hotel staff said Shetty was away when the call came. They hung up the call without reacting to it.

Demand for money

Poojari called the hotel again at 1 pm on Tuesday asking for Shetty. Learning from the staff that Shetty was away, he asked the hotelier to check his mobile phone for a text message.

When Shetty checked, the message claiming to be from mafia don Ravi Poojari demanded Rs 5 crore from him. It also said Shetty will be killed if he failed to fork out the sum.

Complaint

Shetty informed the city police commissioner about the call. Commissioner T Suneel Kumar assured the hotelier that he need not be scared of the threat call and asked Deputy Commissioner of Police North Division Chethan Singh Rathore to probe the calls.

Shetty would formally lodge a complaint about the calls with the RT Nagar police station –whose jurisdictional limit his hotel falls - on Wednesday morning.