Gangster's cash offer to producer stumps cops

MUMBAI: Was it really gangster Ravi Pujari who called up film producer Sushama Shiromanee or was it an imposter?
Shiromanee lodged a complaint with the Khar police on Thursday, stating that she had received a call from Pujari who threatened her with dire consequences if she did not pull out of the election for the presidentship of the Indian Motion Picture Producers' Association (IMPPA).She had even recorded the call, which was apparently made from an overseas destination. Shiromanee also alleged that the call was made at the behest of current IMPPA president T P Agarwal.
A senior police official said what was intriguing was that Pujari had offered Shiromanee money to force her withdrew from the fray. "This is the first case where the underworld has offered money,'' the official added. Nevertheless, the police are taking the threat seriously and are trying to match the voice of the caller with the database they have in the crime branch. The police have the voice records of almost all gangsters; while investigating a threat case, the officials use these records to confirm who had made the calls.
Agarwal led a 10-member delegation of film producers to the Khar police on Friday afternoon and presented his side of the story. He told the police that he had nothing to do with the underworld and urged an impartial probe into the complaint lodged against him by Shiromanee.
Shiromanee told TOI that as a law-abiding citizen she had recorded the call and submitted a copy to the police to back her complaint. "It is for the police to investigate the matter thoroughly,'' she said. The police are also trying to ascertain if anyone had given money to Pujari to implicate Agarwal.
The underworld shadow continues to loom large over the real estate industry in the city, with more and more builders receiving threats from gangs led by Pujari, Bharat Nepali and others based in undisclosed places abroad.
"We have asked all of them to lodge complaints so that each case can be investigated,'' a crime branch official said. Recently, a Chembur-based builder reportedly paid Rs 5 crore to the underworld. This, after a gang barged into his office in Chembur and beat up his manager with hockey sticks. Incidentally, the attackers came to the spot in a car with a red beacon on top of it. DCP Dilip Sawant said no one had lodged a complaint but an eyewitness confirmed with TOI that the manager was severely beaten up.