2016 Gajali restaurant firing: Gangster Ravi Pujari remanded to police custody till Mar 9

Mumbai Feb 23: Gangster Ravi Pujari has been remanded to police custody till March 9, in coonection with 2016 Gajali restaurant firing case. He is wanted in more than 49 cases in the city.

The 59-year-old gangster - a fugitive for more than two decades till last year - had returned to Bengaluru in the custody of Karnataka Police in February 2020 from Senegal.

A Mumbai police team on Saturday left for Bengaluru after a court in Karnataka allowed the gangster''s handover in connection with the firing incident that took place in Vile Parle area here on October 21, 2016.

Following the incident, case was registered under provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Pujari was brought to Mumbai from Bengaluru by road on Tuesday morning, a police official said.

The Mumbai police''s anti-extortion cell, which is conducting a probe into the case, produced him before a special MCOCA court here.

Special Judge D E Kothalikar remanded Pujari in the police''s custody till March 9.

Seven associates of Pujari are already in jail in this case, police earlier said.

Pujari, hailing from Udupi in Karnataka, ran an extortion racket from abroad that targeted businessmen and film personalities, they said.