38-yr-old arrested for alleged link with gangster Prasad Pujari

Representational image

Mumbai Crime Branch's Anti Extortion Cell (AEC) on Tuesday arrested a man who was allegedly in contact with fugitive wanted gangster Prasad Pujari. Shah had allegedly introduced a Kalbadevi based businessman to Pujari who wanted the gangster's help to settle his financial dispute with a friend. According to the police, the friend of the businessman filed a complaint after he received threat calls from Pujari. The arrested accused identified as Mitesh Shah (38), a south Mumbai resident was produced before the court and remanded police custody till February 21.

The AEC had earlier arrested the businessman identified as Popatlal Porwal a day before arresting Shah in connection to the same case. According to an officer, "Porwal who was working in Kalbadevi, was arrested for allegedly approaching Prasad Pujari to help him settle a financial dispute. The gangster allegedly made several phone calls to another person, who is also a businessman and demanded Rs 4 crore."

Sources revealed that Porwal and the other businessman had been involved in the dispute for a year. Both men had filed a police complaint against each other. However, considering the civil nature of the dispute, the police advised them to take the matter to court. Last year Porwal contacted Shah and discussed his problem and Shah helped him to get in touch with Pujari for assistance in getting his money back from his friend.

The businessman in dispute with Porwal started getting threat calls from Pujari and according to his complaint, he received threat calls from Pujari in December 2018. Pujari had ordered him to withdraw the case filed against Porwal and demanded that he pay him Rs 4 crore. Fed up of the calls from the gangster, he approached the police for help. Initially, the case was registered with LT Marg police station and then the case was transferred to AEC for investigation.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates