Gangster Ravi Pujari, Wanted In Over 200 Cases, Extradited To India From Senegal

Fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari was brought to Bengaluru in the early hours of Monday from Senegal via France. Pujari, who had jumped bail and gone missing after being arrested in Senegal in January last year, was arrested again from South Africa on Saturday. Pujari has over 200 offences of murder and extortion against him.

Pujari was arrested by the Senegal authorities last year and the India police tried it’s best to catch hold of him but failed as a local court there granted him bail.

The gangster was nabbed in South Africa in a joint operation by the SA police and Senegal security agencies and was later extradited to Senegal, said police sources.

On learning about his arrest in Senegal, a team of police officers, including Additional Director General of Police Amar Kumar Pandey and Bengaluru Joint Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil went to Senegal to bring him.

Ravi Pujari was arrested on January 19 last year from Dakar in Senegal. He was later given bail by a local court in June 2019. He jumped the bail later and was absconding since then. At that time, Pujari had claimed that he was a Burkina Faso citizen named Anthony Fernandes.

According to media reports, Pujari had been arrested only once in India. He was arrested in Mumbai in connection with an attempted murder and rioting case in 1994. He then worked under Chhota Rajan operative Guru Satam. 

According to Republic TV, Pujari had lived between Thailand, Malaysia, Morocco, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Ivory Coast, and Senegal after getting out of India in 1996. It said that there are 39 cases against Pujari in Bengaluru, 36 cases in Mangalore, 11 in Udupi, and one each in Mysuru, Hubli-Dharwad, Kolar, and Shivamogga. Mumbai police have a total of 49 cases against Pujari of which, 26 cases are under the stringent MCOCA. There are around 75 cases of extortion registered against Pujari in Gujarat, according to the report.

(With PTI Inputs)