Kochi: In significant development, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Kerala Police on Friday took over the investigation of the beauty parlour shootout case from 2018.

The Crime Branch wing of the Kerala police had been probing the case in which gangster Ravi Pujari is a key accused, police said.

The ATS is also a separate wing under the Crime Branch headed by senior IPS officer Tomin J Thachankary.

The case was handed over to the ATS considering the seriousness of the crime involving a gangster like Pujari, police sources said.

Pujari was interrogated by the state crime branch sleuths in connection with the shootout when he was under the custody of Karnataka police.

The incident happened on December 15, 2018 when two unidentified men came on motorcycles and opened fire outside the parlour owned by the controversial actress Leena Mariya Paul at Panampilly Nagar here.

The Crime Branch had arrested three people soon after the incident.

The Crime Branch investigation had revealed that the gang had committed the act to threaten the actress to pay Rs 25 crore demanded by Pujari.

Pujari had allegedly called her multiple times seeking the amount before and after the incident.

Actress Paul has acted in a Hindi film 'Madras Cafe', Tamil movie 'Biriyani' and Malayalam films 'Husbands in Goa' and 'Red Chillies'.

(With PTI inputs.)