The Crime Branch (CB) will seek the custody of purported gangster Ravi Poojari. He is currently in captivity in Karnataka, where he is accused in several crimes, including extortion and murder.
ADGP, Crime Branch, Tomin Thachankery reportedly questioned him in Bangalore. Central agencies had recently extradited Poojari from Senegal, which was his lair since 2005. The CB wants him in connection with a 2018 bid to extort money from celebrity Leena Maria Paul.
Investigators believe that Poojari had set his sights on Ms. Paul as a likely target for extortion after she became implicated in a ₹18 crore bank fraud case. According to CB officials, Poojari employed a set of intermediaries to repeatedly coerce Ms. Paul into wiring money to an offshore account he operated in the name of others.
Poojari used his notoriety to threaten Ms. Paul with physical harm and even death. Poojari is an accused in over 100 violent crimes in the country and has 13 Interpol red corner notices against him.
When his tactic failed to work, Poojari allegedly contracted two shooters to prove to Ms. Paul that he could project his power from afar. The hitmen fired upon Ms. Paul’s beauty parlour in Kochi, but none were injured in the incident. However, gun crime worried the business community and the film industry. It also sent a ripple of alarm in the State’s law enforcement.
The CB soon identified and arrested the suspected gunmen in 2019. Officials identified them as Bilal and Bipin Varghese, both unemployed youth in their early 30s. Investigators said Bilal headed a Perumbavoor-based criminal network with links in Mangalore in Karnataka.
They said they had recovered a .32 automatic pistol and rounds from the accused. Officials are trying to trace the provenance of the firearm. The CB had been on the trail of Poojari since 2018. A team led by IG S. Sreejith and SP Merin Joseph had hired a person to translate the charges against Poojari in French. They mailed it to Senegal authorities through the National Central Bureau, the Central agency which liaisons with the Interpol.
Senegal, with which India has a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, had responded positively to the Kerala Police request. Soon, the Senegal law enforcement took custody of Poojari and initiated steps to hand him over to Indian authorities.
