Gangster Ravi Pujari, who was known to call up Bollywood personalities and prominent builders in Mumbai in order to extort money from them, has been arrested in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, according to sources here.
According to police sources here, Pujari was arrested on January 22 on the basis of information provided by the Indian Government and has been lodged at the Reubeus prison in Dakar.
The Indian Government has begun the process to get Pujari extradited to India, according to officials here.
A team from India is likely to visit Senegal in order to take custody of Pujari in about a fortnight’s time, state government officials here say.
The Mumbai Police had stumbled on to Pujari’s location after one of his henchmen, William Rodrigues, was arrested while trying to extort money from a Mumbai builder on the gangster’s behalf.
Rodrigues led the police to other associates of Pujari in Mangalore who in turn provided the police about the gangster’s location.
Pujari, a member of the Chhota Rajan gang, had broken away to form his own gang around 17 years ago.
Shortly afterwards, Pujari hit the headlines after some members of his gang attempted to kill filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.
After moving about in different parts of the world, Pujari moved to Senegal where he has been operating an Indian restaurant under the identity of Anthony Fernandes.
