Mumbai: A series of extortion threats made to businessmen and hoteliers in coastal Karnataka and Mumbai by callers claiming to be former Chhota Rajan aide Hemant Pujari has kicked off a probe by the police in both states.Police here said they were in the process of verifying if the calls were made by the fugitive gangster or are the work of imposters using his name.Sources said several businessmen and hotel owners in Udupi and neighbouring areas had recently reported receiving threatening calls from unknown numbers demanding money. Similar information also surfaced in Mumbai, where some hoteliers allegedly received extortion threats from callers identifying themselves as Pujari.The development comes amid the ongoing investigation into the murder of former Mudarangadi gram panchayat president and contractor David D’Souza, who was shot dead in Udupi district on August 7 while attempting to board his jeep outside his office, Prince Enterprises, near St Francis Xavier Church.During the probe, the Karnataka police arrested seven persons, including Pujari’s younger brother Kishore Pujari. Police claim that Kishore allegedly harboured a grudge against D’Souza over disputes related to local pipeline and road construction contracts. Police have seized mobile phones, cash and a motorcycle during the investigation.The interrogation of the arrested accused led police to Kishore, who is suspected of having played a key role in orchestrating the murder. While police maintain that the motive appears to be a financial dispute, they are also examining whether the killing could be linked to attempts by the gangster network to re-establish its influence.Udupi superintendent of police Hariram Shankar confirmed that police are aware of the threatening calls but cautioned against drawing conclusions.“We have arrested Hemant Pujari’s brother Kishore in the David D’Souza murder case. Prima facie, he told us that the motive behind the killing was a financial dispute. There are several audio clips doing the rounds and we too have heard about people receiving calls from someone claiming to be Hemant Pujari. However, this is the age of artificial intelligence (AI) where anybody can clone a person’s voice and issue threats. Therefore, we are neither confirming nor denying that it is actually Hemant Pujari. Our investigations are continuing,” Shankar said.A senior IPS officer in Mumbai said city police had also received intelligence inputs regarding the threatening calls but no formal complaint had yet been registered.Once considered a close associate of underworld don Chhota Rajan, Pujari was accused of running extortion rackets targeting businessmen, contractors and hoteliers in Mumbai and coastal Karnataka. Investigators attribute more than 25 serious offences to him and has been incommunicado since a decade.Among the cases linked to Pujari are the murders of hotelier Ratnakar Shetty, owner of Amantran Bar near Khar railway station, on December 21, 2001; hotelier Jaya Shetty of Golden Crown Hotel at Nana Chowk on May 4, 2001; hotelier Mohammed Shafi near Milan subway on April 4, 2001; as well as the killings of bomb blast accused Akbar Khan in Dongri and florist Sunil Sohans in Khar.A Class XII dropout from Cardinal Gracias High School, Pujari grew up in the Nirmal Nagar slums of Khar and initially worked as a waiter in Ghatkopar. He later came into contact with members of the Chhota Rajan gang and rose through the ranks as a shooter. Pujari first gained notoriety following the murder of builder Shaukat Sarkar in Khar in November 1999. He subsequently became part of Rajan’s core team before allegedly breaking away around 2002 to establish his own criminal network.
