Police get Ravi Pujari’s custody in choreographer extortion case
Pujari allegedly demanded Rs 50 lakh after threatening the choreographer and his wife.Pujari, 56, who has 49 offences registered against him in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Karnataka, was escorted by the gun-wielding special squad of the Crime Branch. He was produced before the Esplanade Magistrate Court on Thursday and was remanded to police custody until Jan 26.This is the second, out of the nine pending cases in which Mumbai Police took Pujari’s custody from a Karnataka jail. The govt of Senegal last year granted permission to prosecute Pujari in nine additional cases registered in Mumbai.
These include three cases booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Senegal earlier permitted prosecution in 10 cases.To secure approval for the additional nine cases, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) coordinated with Senegalese authorities and got permission last year. The fresh case in which Pujari was arrested dates back to 2018, when the wife of choreographer and film director Remo D’Souza lodged a complaint against Pujari for issuing threats and demanding extortion.The dispute arose from a 2013 agreement between the complainant’s production house, Om Shri Ganesh Films, and accused number 1, Satyendra Tyagi, for the production of the film “Death of Amar”. Differences emerged over the film’s release, editing, distribution and financial arrangements. Between Oct 2016 and Feb 2018, gangster Ravi Pujari (accused number 3), along with his associate Prasad Pujari, allegedly issued repeated threats to the complainant, her husband and their staff from international phone numbers.The threats were allegedly made on behalf of Satyendra Tyagi to force the release of the film and to extort Rs 50 lakh for settlement, warning of serious consequences in case of non-compliance. Police arrested Tyagi and another accused, Kamalsingh Rajput alias Raju, in 2018, while Ravi Pujari was absconding.
