KOCHI: In a major development in the beauty parlour firing case here, underworld don Ravi Pujari has admitted that he awarded the “contract” for threatening actress Leena Maria Paul and extorting money from her, according to the Crime Branch (CB) officials.
Pujari, who is currently under the custody of Karnataka Police in Bengaluru, had been interrogated by the CB officials for the past three days. He is the first accused in the shooting case.
The underworld don has admitted that he conspired to extort money from the actor, who had allegedly amassed a big sum of money from hawala deals in Kochi, and his gang had opened fire after she ignored his earlier warnings. The “task” had been assigned to Saleem of Changanassery who is still on the run. Recently, the CBI had issued a lookout notice against Leena Paul for attempting to extort money from a Hyderabad-based businessman.
A team led by Crime Branch ADGP Tomin J Thachankary reached Bengaluru to interrogate Pujari. According to the officials, they received crucial information on the involvement of the underworld don in the case. The team left Bengaluru on Sunday.
However, bringing Ravi Pujari to Kochi for evidence collection as part of the inquiry will be delayed. Currently, the Karnataka Police are interrogating the don who is booked in at least 46 cases registered in Bengaluru alone.
Pujari, who was brought to India on February 24, has been remanded in police custody till March 7.
The Karnataka Police are likely to seek extension of his custody. Besides, the gangster has cases against him in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Hence, the evidence collection in the beauty parlour shooting case might be delayed, according to the officers.
“We had interacted with the Karnataka Police. Currently, Pujari is under their custody. We have received vital clues and the details will be disclosed later,” said Tomin J Thachankary.
According to the prosecution case, on December 15 last year, two unidentified persons had fired shots at the beauty parlour situated in the high-end Panampilly Nagar locality here. Later, it emerged that underworld don Pujari was behind the act.
The Crime Branch, after taking over the probe, identified and arrested Bilal of Aluva and Vipin of Kochu Kadavanthra who had fired the gunshots.