Mumbai Police awaiting Ravi Pujari''s custody

With gangster Ravi Pujari been extradited to India from Senegal, Mumbai Police are now keen

to interrogate him for his alleged role in at least 50 cases, most of them of extortion, pending against him in police

stations in the city and nearby Thane, police said on Monday. Pujari, who had been wanted in many heinous crimes,

was brought to Bengaluru in the early hours of Monday from the west African country.

Earlier in the day, the court of the first Additional City Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) in Bengaluru remanded

Pujari to police custody till March 7. Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh told reporters

on Monday night that the police will later seek custody of Pujari.

"Once the Karnataka Police completed their interrogation of Pujari, we will seek his custody. We are in

touch with the Karnataka Police," he said. According to Crime Branch sources, Mumbai Police had

sent a letter in English to Senegal seeking custody of Pujari after his arrest.

"However, they demanded a letter in French and handed over Pujari's custody to Karnataka Police. We have sent the

letter in French," an official said. He said stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised

Crime Act (MCOCA) was slapped against Pujari in at least 25 cases.