After 17 years, fugitive gangster Kumar Pillai extradited from Singapore

After being on the run for around 17 years, underworld gangster Kumar Pillai was extradited to India from Singapore on Monday night by a 5-member team of the Mumbai crime branch.

He was brought by an Air India flight 343 that landed around 9.30pm on Monday. Pillai was formally arrested by a team of unit VII of crime branch from the arrival of the Terminal 2 and whisked off to Mumbai police headquarters.

The crime branch officials have taken the court’s special permission to handcuff Pillai after the flight lands in Mumbai. He will be produced in the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Tuesday after completion of due formalities.

The police said the need for permission to handcuff Pillai was to avoid hassles pertaining to human rights. The police are also carrying the court’s permission letter.

The team, headed by a deputy police commissioner, had left for Singapore on Wednesday night with a set of original documents that were earlier submitted before the Singaporean committal (lower) court seeking his extradition to India.

Read | Pillai gave up Indian citizenship in 2013, escaped MEA radar

After being brought to Mumbai, Pillai will be handed over to the unit VII of the crime branch, which is investigating the recent cases registered against him.

While there is no lock up at unit VII office at Ghatkopar, it is likely that Pillai will be kept at the Mumbai police headquarters at Crawford Market, citing security reasons.

“His custody will be taken by the unit VII after Pillai is produced in a local court. Pillai was booked in another extortion case in 2013. He had allegedly demanded money from an MLA. He had spoken to the victim over the phone, threatened him, and asked him to pay the extortion money to his aides,” said a police officer.

Pillai’s extradition was cleared on May 18, after the court ruled in India’s favour, giving him 15 days to appeal before a higher court. Pillai did not file a fresh appeal before June 2 .