Crime branch arrests Ravi Pujari gang arms supplier

An alleged notorious aide of fugitive underworld kingpin Ravi Pujari was arrested by the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai police crime branch from near Manish Market in south Mumbai.

An alleged notorious aide of fugitive underworld kingpin Ravi Pujari was arrested by the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai police crime branch from near Manish Market in south Mumbai.

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Additional commissioner of police, crime, Deven Bharati said Robert Fernandes alias Kiran, 35, was arrested near a travel agency near Manish Market. He otherwise works as a waiter in a hotel in Ahmedabad. It is learnt that Robert, originally from Udipi in Karnataka, had provided weapons to Pujari shooters on several occasions in the past.

Sources in the crime branch told HT on Monday that the tip-off about Robert and his whereabouts was obtained by the AEC during the interrogation of Kalam Nazim Khan, 32, and Sayed Sahid Hussain, 25, who had been arrested last month.

The AEC had nabbed the hoodlums before they could make an extortion bid on a Juhu-based “important film personality” at the behest of Pujari. Two .9mm pistols and 9 live rounds had been recovered from the duo, residents of Kurla.