Mumbai police get gangster Ravi Pujari’s custody in Remo D'Souza extortion case

Mumbai: The Mumbai police have taken custody of gangster Ravi Pujari in connection with a 2018 case of attempting to extort Rs 50 lakh from choreographer Remo D'Souza and his wife, officials said on Friday.

The crime branch's anti-extortion cell (AEC) took Pujari's custody from the Bengaluru prison and produced him in a court in Mumbai on Thursday, they said.

Pujari has been remanded in police custody till January 27, an official said.

The 56-year-old gangster had allegedly threatened D'Souza and his wife in 2018, demanding Rs 50 lakh from them, following a financial dispute between the choreographer and a film producer.

Pujari has 49 cases to his name in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane and Karnataka.

The extortion case is the second among the nine pending cases against the gangster for which his custody has been taken, the official said.

The Senegal government last year approved prosecution of the gangster in nine cases, including three in which the stringent Maharashtra Control Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) has been invoked, he said.