Salman’s lawyer ‘threatened’ by gangster Ravi Pujara

JODHPUR: After Bollywood star Salman Khan, his lawyer Mahesh Bora too has started receiving death threats from gangsters.
Bora told TOI that a gangster, who identified himself as Ravi Pujara, has sent text messages on his mobile phone asking him to withdraw from Salman’s case or be shot dead.
The senior advocate said that while he was least bothered about such threats, he has informed the Jodhpur police commissioner about it.Following the threats, a police guard was seen accompanying Bora at the court on Friday.
Jodhpur police commissioner Ashok Rathod told reporters that Pujara was a gangster in the records of Mumbai police and operates mostly in Maharashtra. There are no criminal records for Pujara in Rajasthan and he is suspected to be presently hiding in Australia, the police commissioner said.
Rathod said Pujara had issued similar threats in connection with Salman’s cases in the past also.
“I care a damn about threats to me. If lawyers start excusing themselves from cases because of threats, they will not be able get justice for the innocent,” Bora said.
He said gangster Pujara had made some internet phone calls too, which were received by his son. Police believe the internet calls were made from overseas. Bora, however, said he has never heard of the gangster before. “It is for the police to decide what to do about these threats. I have handled important cases in the past too but never received such threats,” he said.
Earlier, another gangster Lawrence Bishnoi had threatened to kill Salman. Bishnoi was arrested by the Jodhpur police last year and is currently lodged in the Bharatpur jail. But his gang members are in the central jail at Jodhpur where Salman has also been jailed.
The jail administration has claimed that adequate security arrangement has been provided for Salman because of the threats. Jail authorities have also kept other jail inmates away from the film star while treating him as an ordinary convict in the jail.
Besides Lawrence’s men, the Jodhpur jail has Rajsamand’s hate-murder accused Shambhu Lal Raigar, who was glorified through a tableau during the recent Ram Navami procession here last month. Former Congress legislator Malkhan Singh Bishnoi, an accused in the Bhanwari Devi rape and murder case, is also lodged in the same jail. Salman’s barrack is close to that of the rape-accused, self-styled godman Asaram Bapu.