Prasad Pujari case: Mother helps son run extortion racket, held

Fugitive gangster Prasad Pujari’s mother Indira Pujari was arrested by Mumbai Police on Wednesday for allegedly helping her son run an extortion racket in the city.

Fugitive gangster Prasad Pujari’s mother Indira Pujari was arrested by Mumbai Police on Wednesday for allegedly helping her son run an extortion racket in the city.

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Indira’s involvement was uncovered during the police investigation into the shooting case in Vikhroli, in which Shiv Sena’s Chandrashekhar Jadhav was injured.

Indira, 62, has been charged with providing financial help to Pujari’s gang members, under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). “She was arrested from her relative’s residence in Mira-Bhayander and during inquiry, it became clear that she was helping Pujari’s gang members financially to run the extortion racket in the city,” said joint commissioner of police Santosh Rastogi. Altogether, eight people have been arrested from Mumbai and other parts of the country for their association with Pujari. They are all in judicial custody, said Rastogi.

On December 19, 2019, Sena leader Jadhav was shot at in Vikhroli. The police arrested his two assailants days after the incident, one of whom is Sagar Mishra. The two were allegedly acting on Pujari’s instructions. The police further found that in December 2019, Indira had deposited cash in Mishra’s bank account. “As per his bank statement, she [Indira] had deposited ₹50,000 in Mishra’s account in December last year. We are checking other bank accounts to get more information of the financial trail,” said a crime branch officer, requesting anonymity.

Pujari is also being investigated by Mumbai Police for a case of extortion. In January, Pujari allegedly threatened a real estate developer and demanded ₹10 lakh from him.

The developer filed a complaint at Vikhroli police station. Following this, the anti-extortion cell (AEC) laid a trap and on February 3 arrested Sunil Angane, 56, a real estate broker who came to collect the extortion money from the developer. Another inquiry by unit 7 of Mumbai Police found Indira and Pujari’s cousin Sukesh Kumar, 28, had deposited ₹25,000 in Angane’s account from Mangaluru, said deputy commissioner of police (crime branch) Akbar Pathan. Kumar was arrested on March 2 in Mangaluru.