Two aides of don Ravi Pujari held for shooting at actress' parlour

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Kochi: Two members of underworld don Ravi Pujari's gang have been arrested in connection with alleged shooting at a beauty parlour run by 'controversial' actress Leena Maria Paul, police said on Friday. Bilal, 25, from Aluva and Vipin Varghese, 30, from Kadavanthra here were arrested by a team of crime branch police, they said.

The attackers, wearing helmets, barged into the parlour in Panampilly Nagar at around 3 pm on December 15 last year and fired two shots before speeding away on a bike, they added. A man from Kasargod district, who is also a key member of Pujari's gang had given quotation to Bilal for Rs 50 lakhs to carry out the crime. The duo was taken to the Beauty Parlour to gather evidence, this afternoon. The actress had alleged that she had received Internet threat calls on her mobile phone, demanding Rs 25 crore on November 3 under instructions from gangster Ravi Pujari.

According to her, the caller threatened to kill the actress if the money was not paid. The threat calls were made on subsequent dates also, she stated. Pujari had allegedly telephoned a media house and challenged the Kerala Police to arrest his men who had fired shots at the beauty parlour. The Kerala police said in a release that Pujari has been taken into custody by the Interpol and police in the African nation, Senegal. Efforts are on to bring him back to India, it said.

The case was initially probed by the Kochi city police. Later, it was handed over to the Crime branch wing of the police. Leena Maria Paul has acted in Bollywood film 'Madras Cafe', Tamil flick 'Biriyani' and Malayalam films 'Husbands in Goa' and 'Red Chillies'. The actress was an accused in a bank fraud case and was associated with alleged con man Sukesh Chandrashekhar, now in Tihar jail in a matter related to a bid to bribe the Election Commission, involving Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader and R K Nagar MLA T T V Dinakaran.

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