Gangster Prasad Pujari brought back to India from China; placed under arrest by Mumbai cops

PTI, Mar 23, 2024, 4:51 PM IST

Mumbai: Gangster Prasad Pujari, accused of being involved in several serious crimes including murder, extortion and kidnapping, was brought back to India after his deportation from China in the wee hours of Saturday, and was then placed under arrest by the Mumbai police, an official said.

Gangster Pujari alias Subhash Vitthal Pujari alias Siddharth Shetty alias Siddhu alias Sidh alias Johny is a former member of the gangs led by gangsters Kumar Pillai and Chhota Rajan. He was staying in China, and was arrested there last year. After that, the Mumbai police’s Crime Branch continuously tried to bring him back to the country, he said.

Pujari is allegedly involved in eight serious cases in Mumbai, including firing, extortion and murder. A resident of Tagore Nagar in Vikhroli, he had fled from the country years ago. He had allegedly targeted builders and businessmen in eastern Mumbai, the crime branch official said.

Pujari’s name came up in the case of firing on Shiv Sena worker Chandrakant Jadhav, who lived in the Vikhroli area, in December 2019. He was apprehended by authorities in Hong Kong in February 2023.

“Following a tip-off by the Interpol, Pujari was arrested in March last year in Hong Kong on the charges of possessing a fake passport. He was held when he was preparing to board a flight from Hong Kong to Shenzhen (city in China). Pujari, who is married to a Chinese national, was residing in Shenzhen with his wife and a child at the time of his arrest,” the official added.

In 2020, the Mumbai police’s crime branch had arrested Pujari’s mother, Indira Vitthal Pujari, for her alleged involvement in the case of extortion of a builder from Vikhroli. She was arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for allegedly extorting Rs 10 lakh from a developer, the official said.

Prasad Pujari used to extort money from businessmen and known people using international numbers as well and gave death threats to some of the leading film directors, producers and Bollywood actors. His gang is very active in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai localities, he added.

After being deported from China, he was brought to India shortly around 1 am on Saturday. He was then placed under arrest by the Mumbai police in one of the cases registered against him at the Vikhroli police station under sections including 307 (attempt to murder), 120-B (conspiracy) as well as the MCOCA. The Anti Extortion Cell (AEC) of the crime branch took him into custody, the official said.