Thane builder gets threat call from gangster Ravi Pujari

Thane: A builder from Dombivali received an extortion call purportedly from fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari, demanding Rs 2 crore, police said on Thursday.

According to the complaint filed by builder Ram Keshav Bhagat on Wednesday night, he received the call on March 30 around 9.50 pm from an international number where the caller identified himself as Ravi Pujari. Before the caller hung up, he allegedly threatened to kill Bhagat if he fails to pay up, a media release from Thane police said.

Police have registered offences under sections 384 (Punishment for extortion) and 385 (Putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion) of the IPC and no arrests have been made so far.

In a related incident, a 60-year-old man from Naupada allegedly received an SMS wherein the messenger identified himself as an aide of Ravi Pujari and demanded Rs 20 lakh from him to allegedly bail out the gangster's accomplices Aniket Jadhav, Abhishek Salve and Bharat Dev from jail.

According to the complainant, Narayan Gajanan Lavande, he received these messages from a local number between March 23 and March 31 on different occasions. Police have registered offences under sections 385, 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) of IPC and also 66 (F) of the IT Act, police said.

A team of officials from the Anti-Extortion Cell are also carrying out investigations into the threat calls.