Gangster Ravi Pujari arrested in Remo D’Souza extortion case

Gangster Ravi Pujari was arrested in Mumbai for threatening choreographer Remo D’Souza over a 2018 extortion case linked to a film dispute.

MUMBAI: Gangster Ravi Pujari, already serving time in a Bengaluru jail, was arrested and produced in a Mumbai court on Thursday, for allegedly threatening choreographer and film producer Remo D’Souza and attempting to extort money from him.

Gangster Ravi Pujari arrested in Remo D’Souza extortion case

Police said the case dates back to 2018, when D’Souza fell out with his business partner, Satyendra Tyagi, who allegedly contracted Pujari to help him extort money from D’Souza.

Although more than seven years old, the case has been resurrected as part of a list submitted by the Indian government to the authorities in Senegal, in West Africa, from where Pujari was extradited in 2020. The list, the second such submission made a few months ago, forms part of the extradition proceedings, which require the Indian government to cite reasons to back its request.

D’Souza and Tyagi had together produced a film titled Death of Amar in 2014. Starring Rajeev Khandelwal, Zareen Khan and Prashant Narayanan, the film was the official entry at the 22nd San Francisco Global Movie Fest and won the Audience Choice Award. But it is stuck with the censors and has not been released in India.

Tyagi has since allegedly been demanding that D’Souza return the money he had invested in the film. Police said Pujari had threatened D’Souza, saying he must pay Tyagi ₹5 crore to settle the dispute. “A case of extortion was filed by D’Souza’s wife Lizelle in 2018,” said a police officer.

“From August 2017 until January 2018, D’Souza and his wife received multiple threatening calls from Pujari. The gangster threatened the couple with dire consequences if they did not give Tyagi ₹5 crore, an NOC, and ₹50 lakh in extortion money to Pujari,” said a police officer.

Tyagi registered an FIR against D’Souza in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, claiming he had received threatening calls from a gangster named Prasad Pujari at the behest of D’Souza. He also claimed gunshots had been fired at his car.

“Tyagi was arrested in Delhi in May 2018, a charge-sheet was filed in the case, and now we have arrested Ravi Pujari,” said the police officer. Pujari has been remanded to police custody in Mumbai until January 27.