Underworld gangster Ravi Pujari was arrested in South Africa on Saturday as per reports in a joint operation by law enforcement authorities in Senegal and Indian agencies, including the Research and Analysis Wing. Efforts are on by RAW and Karnataka Police to have Pujari deported.
Pujari was arrested in Senegal in January last year in a cheating case. However, after he was granted bail by a court in Senegal, he jumped bail and escaped to South Africa. He was in the country under a false identity of a Burkina Faso passport holder, Anthony Fernandes, and was involved in drug trafficking and extortion.
Pujari's arrest has not been officially confirmed, but reports said that the extradition process is under way. He is wanted in over 200 cases of murder and extortion against him. His lawyers, however, have asserted that he is a businessman from Burkina Faso named Anthony Fernandes and not a fugitive.
An image of the passport, according to reports, shows Pujari with the name Anthony Fernandes, a business running a chain of restaurants in Senegal, Burkina Faso and other neighbouring countries. The passport shows that it had been issued on 10.7.2013 and is valid till 8.7.2023.
The gangster, who parted ways with underworld don Chhota Rajan, came into prominence in the early 2000s after he started extorting builders and Bollywood personalities.
