Man arrested for taking help from gangster to settle financial dispute

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The Mumbai Crime Branch's Anti narcotic cell (AEC) have arrested a 59-year-old man for allegedly seeking aid from fugitive gangster Prasad Pujari to settle his financial dispute with a Kalbadevi businessman.

The arrested accused has been identified as Popatlal Porwal, a resident of South Mumbai. According to the police, Porwal had submitted his property papers to one of his friends who in turn kept it in a bank for a mortgage loan.

According to the complainant, Porwal had allegedly invested his money in MCX betting and lost around Rs 16 crore. Suffering from a cash crunch, Porwal asked his friends to pay him Rs 16 crore. However, his friend could only pay him that amount which was required in order to purchase the property.

According to an officer, when Porwal failed to receive any money from his friend, he contacted a fugitive gangster named Prasad Pujari and asked him to extract money from his friend.

Soon after that, Pujari contacted the businessman and threatened him to give Porwal's money. He told the businessman to pay Rs 12 crores to Porwal and 4 crores to him in order for protection and also threatened him with dire consequences if he did not pay heed to his demands.

Following the threat by Pujari, the businessman approached LT Marg police and filed an FIR against Pujari and Porwal. The police then booked Porwal under section 387 and 34 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and are investigating the case.

The case was later transferred to AEC where on Saturday evening the police arrested Porwal and he was produced in court on Sunday and remanded in police custody till February 21.

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