Gangster Pujari extradited; to reach city today

Officials from the anti-extortion cell of Mumbai crime branch travelled to China a few days ago to bring Pujari back into the country.

MUMBAI: Fugitive gangster Subhash Vitthal Pujari alias Prasad Pujari has been extradited to India nearly a year after he was arrested by authorities in China in connection with a fake passport case. He is travelling aboard a Thai Airways flight, which is expected to land at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai early in the morning on Saturday.

Gangster Pujari extradited; to reach city today

The development was confirmed by a senior IPS officer, who said officials from the anti-extortion cell of Mumbai crime branch travelled to China a few days ago to bring Pujari back into the country. He was handed over to the officials in Beijing after completing the legal formalities around extradition, he added.

Born in a middle-class family in Tagore Nagar in Vikhroli East, Pujari was living in Beijing with his Chinese wife and their five-year-old son. He was seen frequently with underworld don Kumar Pillai’s men during his youth before he became a trusted associate of the gangster. Implicated in a total of eight cases of murder, attempt to murder and extortion at Vikhroli, Ghatkopar, LT Marg police stations in Mumbai, he spent two-and-half years in jail in connection with an attempt to murder case before being acquitted in September 2005 due to insufficient evidence.

Pujari subsequently fled to Hong Kong, where Pillai had a raw material supply business as well as shops for mobile accessories. He lived with Pillai initially and started a construction business before gradually handling Pillai’s men in India, said a crime branch official.

In 2019, the anti-extortion cell of Mumbai crime branch registered an attempt to murder case against him and eight associates after they tried to kill Shiv Sena leader Chandrashekhar Jadhav in Tagore Nagar, Vikroli East. The incident occurred when Jadhav was sitting in his office; though the assailant fired a few rounds at him, the bullets missed the target. The anti-extortion cell arrested a total eight people from Mumbai, Thane, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi in connection with the case, while Pujari was absconding.

In 2020, another extortion case was registered against Pujari and his associates for threatening a Vikhroli-based builder and demanding ₹10 lakh from him. Unit 7, which was investigating the case, arrested Pujari’s cousin brother Sukesh Kumar from Mangaluru and his mother Indira from Mira Road on March 11, 2020 for allegedly giving money to his men to run an extortion racket. Pujari and other accused were booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act in the case.

He was arrested in Hong Kong in a fake passport case in February 2023, based on information provided by Indian Interpol to Chinese law enforcement agencies.