The Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch secured the extradition of notorious gangster Prasad Vitthal Pujari from China and landed at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport early on Saturday morning (23rd March).
#WATCH | Maharashtra: Gangster Prasad Pujari brought to Mumbai from China by the Mumbai Crime Branch officials.
— ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2024
(Visuals from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport) pic.twitter.com/tDXIqtrt8J
Pujari, originally a resident of Mumbai’s Vikhroli suburb, was immediately taken to a police lock-up after the Mumbai Crime Branch officials brought the 44-year-old from China. Notably, Pujari is reportedly the first-ever fugitive to be extradited from China.
The Police stated that Prasad is wanted in 15 to 20 cases, mostly of extortion and issuing threats, one murder case, and three attempts to murder cases.
According to the Police, Prasad is a former member of deported gangster Kumar Pillai and he had been on the run since 2010. The Police said that he split from Pillai and formed his own gang after the former was extradited from Singapore in 2016.
As per reports, Pujari has connections to other notorious criminals like Chhota Rajan and Ravi Pujari.
On the request for anonymity, an IPS officer said, “It’s a major success that we have been able to get hands on Chhota Rajan, Ravi Pujari, Bunty Pandey, and now Prasad Pujari. Officers from several agencies have been working hard to bring these gangsters back to India to face the trial.”
After fleeing to China in 2010, Prasad got temporary residency which expired in March 2012. He reportedly lived in the Luohu district of Shenzhen city, Guangdong province, and is believed to have married a Chinese national.
The notorious gangster, Pujari was arrested in February 2023 after an Interpol notice was issued against him.
He was also linked to a failed assassination attempt on a Shiv Sena activist. It is alleged that in 2020, Pujari, along with his mother Indira Vitthal Pujari, and two others, masterminded the abduction of a builder to extort Rs 10 lakh.
During the same year, the Crime Branch of the Mumbai Police arrested his mother, Indira Vithal Pujari, in connection with an extortion case.
Police stated that Indira (62) and two accomplices were accused of demanding a ransom of Rs 10 lakh from a Mumbai-based builder. The two arrested suspects were identified as Sunil Angane (56) and Sukesh Kumar (28).
A case was filed under pertinent sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime (MCOC) Act.
