<p>Marking a significant development in a long-running underworld saga, the Crime Branch of Thane police arrested deported mafia don Ravi Pujari in connection with a 2017 extortion case.</p><p>Raviprakash Sulya Pujari (57) was taken into custody from Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara Central Jail and brought to Mumbai, where police produced him before a court set up under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) amid tight security arrangements on Wednesday. </p>.Rohit Shetty residence firing: Mumbai police invoke MCOCA against accused.<p>The Special MCOCA Court remanded him to police custody until March 27, said Thane Police Anti-Extortion Cell chief and Assistant Commissioner of Police Vinay Ghorpade.</p><p>Thane Police officials said the arrest could help unravel the extent of Pujari’s once-expansive underworld network, which targeted businessmen, politicians and film personalities through international extortion calls.</p><p>The case dates back to 2017, when the Kasarvadavali Police booked him under the MCOCA, invoking charges of extortion, criminal conspiracy and links with organised crime syndicates.</p><p>The arrest comes years after a global manhunt tracked Pujari to West Africa. He was first traced to Burkina Faso and later to Senegal following a Interpol Red Corner Notice.</p><p>In 2019, he was apprehended in Dakar while allegedly living under a false identity. Investigators confirmed his identity through fingerprint records linked to a 1994 Mumbai case. </p><p>Following prolonged legal proceedings, he was extradited to India and lodged in a Bengaluru jail.</p><p>Pujari has remained in custody since then and is wanted in multiple cases across India, with over 200 offences registered against him. Earlier this year, Mumbai Police took him into custody in a 2018 extortion case involving a demand of from a filmmaker-choreographer and his wife. </p><p>Since 2009, Pujari and his associates allegedly targeted several high-profile individuals uncluding top actors, filmmakers and celebrities. </p><p>Born in Karnataka’s Udupi district, Ravi Pujari dropped out of school and moved to Mumbai, where he initially ran a tea stall in Andheri before entering the underworld.</p><p>Pujari was once linked to both the Chhota Rajan and Dawood Ibrahim networks but distanced himself following their split. Later he established his own syndicate. </p>
<p>Marking a significant development in a long-running underworld saga, the Crime Branch of Thane police arrested deported mafia don Ravi Pujari in connection with a 2017 extortion case.</p><p>Raviprakash Sulya Pujari (57) was taken into custody from Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara Central Jail and brought to Mumbai, where police produced him before a court set up under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) amid tight security arrangements on Wednesday. </p>.Rohit Shetty residence firing: Mumbai police invoke MCOCA against accused.<p>The Special MCOCA Court remanded him to police custody until March 27, said Thane Police Anti-Extortion Cell chief and Assistant Commissioner of Police Vinay Ghorpade.</p><p>Thane Police officials said the arrest could help unravel the extent of Pujari’s once-expansive underworld network, which targeted businessmen, politicians and film personalities through international extortion calls.</p><p>The case dates back to 2017, when the Kasarvadavali Police booked him under the MCOCA, invoking charges of extortion, criminal conspiracy and links with organised crime syndicates.</p><p>The arrest comes years after a global manhunt tracked Pujari to West Africa. He was first traced to Burkina Faso and later to Senegal following a Interpol Red Corner Notice.</p><p>In 2019, he was apprehended in Dakar while allegedly living under a false identity. Investigators confirmed his identity through fingerprint records linked to a 1994 Mumbai case. </p><p>Following prolonged legal proceedings, he was extradited to India and lodged in a Bengaluru jail.</p><p>Pujari has remained in custody since then and is wanted in multiple cases across India, with over 200 offences registered against him. Earlier this year, Mumbai Police took him into custody in a 2018 extortion case involving a demand of from a filmmaker-choreographer and his wife. </p><p>Since 2009, Pujari and his associates allegedly targeted several high-profile individuals uncluding top actors, filmmakers and celebrities. </p><p>Born in Karnataka’s Udupi district, Ravi Pujari dropped out of school and moved to Mumbai, where he initially ran a tea stall in Andheri before entering the underworld.</p><p>Pujari was once linked to both the Chhota Rajan and Dawood Ibrahim networks but distanced himself following their split. Later he established his own syndicate. </p>