Mangalore: Man tries to extort money in Ravi Poojary's name, arrested
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
Mangalore, Dec 2: The Bunder police on Sunday December 1 arrested a man for allegedly making extortion calls to a businessman and threatening him in the name of underworld don Ravi Poojary.
The arrested has been identified as Samshuddin (32), a resident of Akkarakere, Ullal.
Another accused, identified as Fayaz of Bibi Alabi road, Bunder, is reportedly absconding.
It is said that Samshuddin had called Bharat Bhai (41) who runs Mataji Hardware at Bibi Alabi road and claimed to be Ravi Poojary's aide.
Fayaz runs a mobile phone shop next to Mataji Hardware, and his house is just behind the house. He is said to be suffering from some illness and needed money for treatment. Samshuddin then then gave him the idea for making quick money by threatening Bharat Bhai in the name of Ravi Poojary.
Fayaz and Samshuddin had earlier worked in Saudi Arabia, where they first came to know each other. Fayaz worked there for seven years while Samshuddin stayed for two years. After coming back to Mangalore, Fayaz set up a mobile phone shop, while Samshuddin took up fishing. Samshuddin used to regularly visit Fayaz at his shop.
On November 7 night, the first call to Bharat Bhai was made by Samshuddin. It is said that Samshuddin introduced himself as 'Naveen', an aide of underworld don Ravi Poojary, and demanded money. Bharat replied that he did not have money and disconnected the call.
Next day, on November 8, Samshuddin again called Bharat and repeated the demand. Again Bharat disconnected the call as before.
About three hours later, Bharat got another call on his mobile phone, but he said he was not rich enough to pay hafta. The caller told him to pay Rs 10 lac immediately and threatened to kidnap his son if he failed to do so.
Bharat then approached the Bunder police the same day and lodged a complaint.
The Bunder police led by inspector Cheluvaraju and PSI Ramakrishna K R under the guidance of police commissioner Manish Karbikar investigated the matter.
The police examined the calls made to Bharat Bhai's mobile phone and traced them to Old Bunder and ultimately to Samshuddin. He was then arrested. Fayaz managed to escape and a search for him is on.
Samshuddin was produced in court and remanded to judicial custody for 12 days.
On interrogation, Samshuddin reportedly told the police that neither he nor Fayaz knew who Ravi Poojary was, but they felt they would be able to extort money if they made the call in his name.