MUMBAI: A special MCOCA court on Monday framed charges against jailed gangster Ravi Pujari in two extortion cases, including an alleged bid to extort ₹ 10 crore from former IAS officer Radheshyam Mopalwar in 2017, when he was vice-chairman and managing director of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).
His wife, Shraddha, and brother-in-law, Atul Tambe, were subsequently arrested for their involvement in the crime. Pujari nevertheless remained a wanted accused in the case. The extortion demand was later reduced to ₹ 7 crore, according to the prosecution. The Thane police arrested Mangale while he was allegedly accepting ₹ 1 crore. The court also noted that the police had not sought Pujari’s custody after his extradition from Senegal in February 2020, and neither had they obtained his voice sample for comparison with the alleged calls to Mopalwar.
He has also been charged with conspiracy and threatening the victim during the alleged extortion. Special judge N R Pradhan directed that Pujari stand trial in both cases. The charges are allegations and will be tested during the trial.
In the second case, dating to 2006, the court charged Pujari with conspiring with a convicted accused to extort ₹ 25 lakh from a certain Aatik Ahmed Khalil Ahmed Shaikh, allegedly by threatening to kill him. The prosecution has alleged that Pujari received ₹ 5 lakh from Shaikh as an instalment between May 17 and May 25, 2006.
The case took a turn in 2023 when a special court for cases under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) acquitted Satish Mangale, Shraddha Mangale, and Tambe, finding several gaps in the investigation and no established link between them and Pujari. After their arrests, Mopalwar allegedly received two international calls from a person identifying himself as Pujari, who threatened him and his daughter with death or grievous hurt, and demanded that he withdraw the extortion case against the three accused. Pujari has now been charged in connection with those alleged threats. One of Pujari’s aides, Anil Babulal Vedmehta, is an absconding accused in the case.
