Police to probe Pujari's jailed men in Bhatt case

An absconding Pujari gangster has been identified as one of the suspects in the shoot-out at filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt in suburban Juhu.

Mumbai Crime Branch will interrogate some jailed associates of underworld gangster Ravi Pujari.

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An absconding Pujari gangster has been identified as one of the suspects in the shoot-out at filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt in suburban Juhu on Wednesday, police sources said.

Sources said interrogation of jailed associates of Ravi Pujari had yielded good results during the investigation into the attack on lawyer Majid Memon last year, and this time too the Mumbai crime branch is proceeding on the same line, sources said.

Mumbai crime branch officials are likely to visit the Central Jail on Arthur Road in central Mumbai, besides the Thane Central Jail on Thursday and interrogate the jailed Pujari men, sources said.

An unidentified person had barged into the fourth floor office of Bhatt at Shubhjeevan building at DN Nagar in Juhu on Wednesday, firing one round in air after finding that the film maker was not in office.

Subsequently, police recovered a chit from Bhatt's office stating that the firing was done by Ravi Pujari's men. A few minutes after the firing, unidentified persons also called up Bhatt's office informing that Pujari's men had failed to kill Bhatt this time, but would not fail next time, sources said.

Mumbai crime branch DCP, Dhananjay Kamalakar said, "we have received several leads in the investigation, and we are pursuing each to take the probe to a logical conclusion."