122 Henchmen of Gangster Ravi Pujari on Mumbai Police List

Mumbai Police are trying all they can to break gangster Ravi Pujari's network and zero-in on his location. Police have made a list of 122 shooters and associates of the gangster, and are bringing them in to the Crime Branch to try and glean information about the don.

Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria has ordered all 12 units of the Crime Branch to identify all new and old members and associates of Pujari's gang, and the Crime Branch has started picking up these people. "We are booking them in one case or another in order to break Pujari's network and get information about him," said a senior Crime Branch officer.

Pujari had allegedly ordered firing outside producer Karim Morani's house in August and Shah Rukh Khan also allegedly received threat calls from a person identifying himself to be Pujari. Khan is the lead actor in Happy New Year, Morani's upcoming film.

The gangster was also planning to eliminate a newspaper journalist who had referred to him as 'chindi chor' (small fry) in his report, but the plot was foiled and the men were caught. The journalist had written that Pujari had called up industrialist Nusli Wadia for publicity, when actress Preity Zinta had accused Wadia of abusing and assaulting her months ago.

The scribe had said Pujari's extortion demands were in lakhs, but that he eventually settled for amounts in thousands. Angry at being described thus, the gangster had paid Rs 1.25 lakh to bump off the reporter.

Notice against producer

The police are also likely to issue a red-corner notice against New Jersey-based event organiser Bittu Singh, who they suspect is involved in the firing outside Morani's house. Police said they had enough evidence to bring in Singh and have taken the help of France-based organisation Interpol to do so.

A red-corner notice seeks the location and arrest of a person wanted by an international law-enforcing agency, on the suspicion that the accused is hiding in another country. Pujari is said to be in Australia. Police sources said Singh wanted the rights for the SLAM tour, a promotional tour being organised for Happy New Year.

Morani had told Singh he couldn't do anything since he himself had no part to play in the event. Morani later started receiving threat calls from someone identifying himself as Ravi Pujari. The firing incident also occurred after this rejection. Singh had denied any connection with the gangster when he had spoken to mid-day earlier.