Thiruvananthapuram: Underworld don Ravi Pujari, a suspect in the Kochi salon shooting, had threatened Kerala MLA PC George, evidence gathered by the police suggests. Pujari's call log collected by the Intelligence Bureau has George's phone number on it. Six calls had been made to George’s phone on January 11 and 12, 2019.
The internet calls have been traced to Senegal in West Africa, where the don was arrested recently. George had earlier revealed he was threatened by Pujari in the case related to rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal. This, however, faced ridicule on social media.
'Ready to take him on'
George said he was not afraid of Pujari and ready to take him on if needed. “I answered the call twice. The police say he called six times. Didn’t bother to register a complaint since I thought it was some thug. The police have collected information from me,” he said.
George's earlier account:
“I got an internet call from Africa. He asked if I got the message. When I apologised for not reading it for lack of time, he introduced himself as Ravi Pujari. He threatened to kill me and one of my sons.
“These threats won’t work with me, you...,” I said in whatever language I knew. He called again from the same number. The police are carrying out a detailed investigation, George said.
Pujari was shuttling among Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast when the police nabbed him. The operation involved Senegalese armed police in three buses. He was living along with wife and children under the fake name Antony Fernandes.
Pujari's name had cropped up in the Kochi beauty parlour shooting case. The beauty parlour owned by actor Leena Maria Paul was attacked on December 15 last year by two bike-borne assailants, who left a slip with Pujari’s name. The actor told the police that she had received calls from Pujari asking for Rs 25 crore in the days leading to the shooting.
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