A court has granted the two wishes of captured gangster Ravi Pujari, allowing his lawyer to be present during the probe and recording the enquiry, a police officer said on Tuesday.
"As per the court's direction, we are allowing Pujari's lawyer to be present during the investigation and also recording the enquiry," Central Crime Branch Deputy Commissioner of Police Kuldeep Jain said.
Interestingly, India managed to extradite Pujari from West African nation Senegal without an extradition treaty.
"Though we did not have an extradition treaty, we managed to bring Pujari by persuading the Senegalese authorities," said Jain.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra and Gujarat are also seeking Pujari's custody which Jain said may happen after Bengaluru police finish their investigation.
Currently, the gangster is in 14-day police custody for investigation into several criminal cases against him.
4-member Karnataka police team brought Pujari to Bengaluru
A 4-member Karnataka police team led by Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) AK Pandey brought the 52-year-old underworld don to Bengaluru from Dakar in Senegal via Paris in an Air France scheduled flight during the early hours of Monday and kept him at an interrogation centre in the city's south-east suburb.
Who is Ravi Pujari?
- Ravi Pujari has been on the run for over 15 years and wanted in over 200 cases.
- Multiples cases of extortion, murder and ransom registered against him.
- In Karnataka, there are 101 cases against him.
- Booked in 10 cases in Gujarat, mostly for murder and extortion.
- Earlier in 2000, he started extorting from famous Bollywood personalities and builders
- Involved in an attempt to murder case, aimed at killing a prominent lawyer of Mumbai.
- A Red Corner Notice was issued against him in 2002.
- Pujari was initially associated with gangster Chhota Rajan.
- Worked for fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
- Ravi Pujari established himself as a hotelier with a different identity running his underworld racket from Senegal.
- Ravi Pujari was hiding with a false identity of Anthony Fernandes, a Burkina Faso passport holder.
