Has Pujari ganged up with Rajan, Shakeel?

After Monday's shootout, the police suspect Ravi Pujari may have forged an alliance with the upper echelons of the underworld

The toothless tiger has found his teeth, and how. Ravi Pujari, whose threats were not taken seriously by anybody, has suddenly been catapulted to the top of the list of the most feared gangsters in the city by successfully engineering the killing of two engineers on Monday (see box).

Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Himanshu Roy said several teams had been deployed to nab the culprits and that the case was being investigated from several angles. "I cannot part with any operational details," he said.

Rajan or Shakeel?
One of the immediate angles which the police is probing is whether Pujari has the backing of gangster Chhota Rajan or his rival Chhota Shakeel. Both ganglords could use him as a front to corner the lion's share of the underworld income in the city.

Underworld insiders say Pujari may have also taken the risk to cash in on the huge volume of betting during World Cup matches. The killing may have been orchestrated to send a chilling message to bookies to pay up protection money since, on an average, around Rs 2,000 crore changes hands in bets during each match.


Crime Scene:u00a0Policemen inspect the construction site where Supervisor
Yogesh Kude (inset) was shot on Monday. File Pic

Pujari, a protege of slain gangster Shri Mama, formed a deadly combination with Guru Satam after he broke away from his mentor Chhota Rajan. The ageing Satam, who is known to be a cold-blooded killer has also come under the scanner after Monday's murders.

The police also suspect that Pujari could have joined hands with Dawood Ibrahim's right-hand man, Chhota Shakeel. The killings could be part of an exercise to prove his loyalty to his new boss. "Pujari's former associates Hemant Pujari and Santosh Shetty could also be part of the new combination," said a police officer. Shetty had come into the limelight by gunning down gangster Bharat Nepali in Bangkok.

Shootout
Site engineer Somraj Devrasi and supervisor Yogesh Kude were shot from point blank range at a construction site in Amboli, Andheri (West) by two suspected Ravi Pujari aides around 11.30 am on Monday. Pujari's men had demanded Rs 25 crore from the builder, Sudharkar Shetty.

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