Mangaluru, Dec 24: The arrest of the œwife and œson of fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari at Mumbai International Airport has finally turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.
A 42-year-old woman from Borivli along with her teenage son was detained by the immigration authorities at the Mumbai Airport on Monday evening following a Lookout Circular (LoC) issued by the Mangaluru police in 2012.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria
The woman was detained as she shared the same name that was of the suspect mentioned in the LoC. The LoC had also stated that the woman named is none other than wife of gangster Ravi Pujari.
The high-voltage drama began after one Sridevi Pujari, who stays in Borivli and is a teacher, was detained by the immigration authorities after she, along with her 15-year-old son, was on her way to board a flight for Abu Dhabi on Monday evening to spend a holiday. Interestingly, the name of Ravi Pujari's wife is also Sridevi Pujari. To add to the confusion, her son Aryan shares his name with the gangster's son.
The Mangaluru City police had issued an LoC in 2012 against Sridevi Pujari for her alleged involvement in a case of extorting money from a businessman there. œIn that case, gangster Ravi Pujari and Sridevi Pujari were shown as accused persons, said Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria.
When the Mumbai police informed their Mangaluru counterparts about the detention, the Mangaluru police said that the woman detained by the airport authorities might be Pujari's wife. While Sridevi, a resident of Ekta Cooperative Housing Society in Borivli, was detained by the Sahar police, her son was sent to Dongri children's home.
The Mumbai police then sent three teams to the airport for verification. An inspector working with Mumbai crime branch, who had seen Pujari's wife in 2005, was also called for verification. The inspector clearly stated that the detained woman is not Pujari's wife Padma alias Sridevi. An assistant commissioner of police from Mumbai also stated that he know the detained woman and that she has no criminal background.
œWe were told by Mangaluru police that the detained woman is wife of Ravi Pujari and it was even mentioned in their LoC, said Maria.
On Tuesday, Sridevi was produced before the Andheri metropolitan magistrate court. In the court, Sridevi's husband Santosh Pujari too was present. Later the Mangaluru police also admitted that the detained Sridevi Pujari was not the one they were looking for and let her off as she was a namesake of the suspect in their case.
The Mangaluru police had registered a case case against Sridevi in 2012 under Indian Penal Code sections 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation), 507 (criminal intimidation by an anonymous person), 384 (extortion) and 34 (common intention).
It could be recalled here that former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma had arrested Ravi Pujari's wife padma in 2005 in fake passport case. She had forged documents to obtain her passport and those of her daughters. She was released on bail after a month, but fled within six months by secretly making another passport from Mangaluru. However, the woman detained in Mumbai on Monday had a passport issued to her in Mumbai, official sources said.
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Mangaluru ACP in Mumbai to follow up on arrest of Ravi Pujari's wife, son
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