23 March,2024 11:35 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Gangster Prasad Pujari. Pic/police sources
Gangster Prasad Pujari, who has been staying in China since 2008, was extradited to Mumbai in the wee hours of Saturday. This is the first time a wanted fugitive was deported by China to India. The notorious gangster, wanted in multiple cases of murder and extortion in Mumbai, had been evading arrest for two decades, stated reports.
According to the reports, the Mumbai Crime Branch had earlier said that Pujari would be arriving at Mumbai International Airport on Friday evening.
Pujari has a long history of criminal activity; the most recent complaint against him was filed in 2020. Pujari escaped for years, even though the municipal crime branch tried to break up his group and issue a red corner notice against him.
According to reports, Pujari wed a Chinese woman in an attempt to postpone his deportation. But after years of work by the Mumbai Crime Branch, he was arrested, and he is now scheduled to return to Mumbai to face justice.
Lakhmi Gautam, Joint Commissioner (Crime), had confirmed that plans have been taken to return Pujari to Mumbai as soon as possible.
The Mumbai Crime Branch had previously arrested Pujari's mother in 2020, revealing that his visit visa had expired. This development raised hopes of his eventual return to India.
Due to his involvement in several illegal acts, notably a firing incident in Vikhroli, Mumbai, on December 19, 2019, which targeted Shiv Sena Chandrakant Jadhav, Prasad Pujari became well-known. The Crime Branch had then arrested 13 members of his gang while he went underground. Although the gang had been dismantled, the cops had been exploring ways to bring him back to Mumbai since then, stated another report.
Pujari in China
Mumbai police sources previously told mid-day that Pujari was awarded a temporary residency in China in March 2008; this residency was to expire in March 2012. Pujari first entered China on a visitation visa, which ran out in May 2008. He lived in Shenzhen, Guangdong province's Luohu area.
