Gangster Prasad Pujari, who is accused of being involved in several crimes, including murder, extortion, and kidnapping, was brought back to India after his deportation from China on Saturday. Following his arrival in India, he was then placed under arrest by Mumbai police, news agency PTI reported, citing an official.
Pujari, alias Subhash Vitthal Pujari, alias Siddharth Shetty, alias Siddhu, alias Sidh, alias Johny, is a former member of gangs led by mobsters Kumar Pillai and Chhota Rajan. According to the official, he was staying in China having an Interpol Red Notice against him, and was arrested there last year. After that, Mumbai police's Crime Branch made continuous attempts to bring him back to the country.
Joint Commissioner Lakhmi Gautam said, ".Of 8 Crimes that he had committed, the investigation is going on, 5 of them are being investigated by an anti-extortion cell while 3 are with the unit-7 crime branch. The crime includes murder and extortion. The crime branch issued a red notice against him in 2012 that was in force, and in 4 crimes, cases have been registered under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA)."
After being deported from China, he was brought to India shortly around 1 am on Saturday. He was then placed under arrest by the Mumbai police in one of the cases registered against him at the Vikhroli police station under sections including 307 (attempt to murder), 120-B (conspiracy) as well as the MCOCA. The Anti Extortion Cell (AEC) of the crime branch took him into custody, the official said, as reported by PTI.
CBI Spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday that the CBI got issued a Red Notice against him from the Interpol on February 14, 2012 and also provided coordination assistance to Mumbai Police and Ministry of External Affairs in return to India from China. A Red Notice alerts all Interpol member countries about an absconding accused who should be detained when spotted in their jurisdiction.
The crime branch official said that Pujari is allegedly involved in eight serious cases in Mumbai, including firing, extortion and murder, as reported by PTI. A resident of Tagore Nagar in Vikhroli, Pujari had fled from the country some years ago. He had allegedly targeted builders and businessmen in eastern Mumbai.
Pujari's name came to light in the case of firing on Shiv Sena worker Chandrakant Jadhav, who lived in the Vikhroli area, in December 2019. He was apprehended by authorities in Hong Kong in February 2023.
The official further stated, "Following a tip-off by the Interpol, Pujari was arrested in March last year in Hong Kong on the charges of possessing a fake passport. He was held when he was preparing to board a flight from Hong Kong to Shenzhen (city in China). Pujari, who is married to a Chinese national, was residing in Shenzhen with his wife and a child at the time of his arrest," as quoted by PTI.
In 2020, the Mumbai police's crime branch arrested Pujari's mother for her alleged involvement in the extortion of a builder from the eastern suburb of Vikhroli in Mumbai, news agency PTI reported, citing an official. Indira Vitthal Pujari (62) was arrested in a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act case for allegedly extorting Rs 10 lakh from a developer, he had stated.
According to the official, Pujari used to extort money from businessmen and known people using international numbers as well and gave death threats to some of the leading film directors, producers and Bollywood actors. His gang is very active in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai localities.