India, March 19 -- The Anti-Extortion Cell of the Thane police on Tuesday took custody of underworld gangster Ravi Pujari, 57, from a Bengaluru prison in connection with a 2017 extortion case registered at Kapurbawdi police station. He was produced before a special MCOCA court in Thane on Wednesday, which remanded him to police custody till March 27.

Pujari, whose full name is Raviprakash Sulayya Pujari, is a native of Udupi in Karnataka and has long been known to law enforcement agencies as an international fugitive linked to extortion rackets targeting businessmen and politicians. For several years, he allegedly ran his operations from foreign locations, prompting Indian authorities to secure a Red Corner Notice through Interpol.

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