NIA’s special team leaves city with police reports
   Date :27-May-2023

NIA special team 
 
 
Staff Reporter
After examining investigation reports of Nagpur police in threat phone calls to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari case, the special team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) left for Mumbai on Friday. A senior police official said that the NIA officials took investigation reports with them and also directed the police to prepare some documents related to the case. The threat phone calls were made by a murder convict named Jayesh Pujari alias Kantha, who was arrested from a jail in Belgavi, Karnataka. Kantha is now cooling his heels at Central Jail in Nagpur. The NIA has registered a case at Bangalore in Karnataka and the Mumbai team of the agency was directed to conduct investigation. The NIA will transfer the offence registered at Dhantoli police in next few weeks and then took custody of Kantha, the official claimed.
The special team’s investigation will be focused on uncovering the terror network in which Kantha was playing an important role. Exploring the role of Lashkar-E-Taiba and the underworld are the main focus of the investigation.
On January 14, Pujari made a threatening call to Gadkari's public relations office, demanding Rs 100 crore and claiming to be a member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang. He made another call on March 21, threatening to harm Gadkari if Rs 10 crore was not paid. Pujari was brought to Nagpur on March 28 from a jail in Belagavi city of Karnataka State, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was invoked against him.
After receiving green signal from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the NIA officials launched an investigation on terror angle in as Pujari had relations with dreaded terrorists including Lashkar-e-Taiba's South Division chief Captain Naseer. Pujari had also taken training in arms in the North-East parts of the country. During Pujari's interrogation by the City police, it was revealed that he had met Naseer in jail and received training in bomb making. He also came in contact with other terrorists in the jail, including Fahad Koya, Afsar Pasha, as well as 'D' Gang members Rashid Malabari and Ganesh Shetty. These accused were supporting finance to Pujari in the jail. The police received information that Pujari gave a 'contract' to Shakeel to kill former Karnataka DCM Ishwar Appa. Shakeel was first arrested in 2018 for carrying drugs, and then in 2019, he was caught in the same crime. In 2021, he was arrested in a kidnapping and rape case. He met Pujari in jail, and Pujari helped him get bail.