Nagpur: A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrived in Nagpur for the investigation of threat phone calls made to UnionTransport Minister Nitin Gadkari. The calls were made by a murder convict named Jayesh Pujari alias Kantha, who was arrested from a jail in Belagavi, Karnataka.
While the NIA has registered a case at Bangalore in Karnataka, its Mumbai team has been directed to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter. Accordingly, a team of NIA Mumbai arrived in Nagpur, and started collecting documents and crucial leads in the case. The NIA investigation will be crucial in uncovering the full extent of the terror network involved, and bringing the culprits to justice.
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Exploring the role of Lashkar-E-Taiba and the underworld will be the focus of the probe. On January 14, Pujari had made a threat call to Gadkari’s public relations office, demanding Rs 100 crore and claiming to be a member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang. He made another call on March 21, threatening to harm Gadkari if Rs 10 crore was not paid to him. Pujari was brought to Nagpur on March 28 from a jail in Belagavi, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was invoked against him.
After receiving green signal from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the NIA officials launched an investigation into the terror angle as Pujari was found to have links with dreaded terrorists, including Lashkar-eTaiba’s South Division chief Captain Naseer. Pujari had also taken arms training in the North-East parts of the country. During Pujari’s interrogation, it was revealed that he had met Naseer in jail and received training in bomb making. He also came in contact with other terrorists in the jail, including Fahad Koya, Afsar Pasha, as well as ‘D’ Gang members Rashid Malabari and Ganesh Shetty.
These accused were supporting finance to Pujari in the jail. The police received information that Pujari gave a ‘contract’ to Shakeel to kill former Karnataka DCM Ishwar Appa. Shakeel was first arrested in 2018 for carrying drugs, and then in 2019, he was caught in the same crime. In 2021, he was arrested in a kidnapping and rape case. He met Pujari in jail, and Pujari helped him get bail.
