Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty and her London-based businessman husband Raj Kundra have become the latest victims of don Ravi Pujari, reports Times of India.
The report quoting sources in the police said both of them recently received threat calls from Pujari, who is operating from a secret location abroad.
“It is true that Raj and Shilpa received threat calls from Pujari. We are investigating the matter,'' a senior police officer said on Friday.
The threat calls have come even as the Mumbai police are conducting a crackdown on the Pujari gang, which is increasingly becoming powerful not only in Mumbai and Thane, but also in Mangalore, the don's hometown.
A few members of the Pujari gang have been killed in “encounters'' but that has obviously not deterred the don from intensifying his operations.
Sources close to Pujari said Raj and Shilpa were not targeted for extortion, but for other reasons. Pujari is a sworn enemy of the Karachi-based Dawood Ibrahim and is targeting businessmen and celebrities allegedly close to his rivals. Raj and Shilpa apparently came under Pujari's scanner when they successfully bid for an IPL franchise for Rajasthan Royals.
It may be recalled that Shilpa's parents, Surendra and Sunanda, were questioned by the Surat police and arrested in connection with a complaint lodged by Pankaj Agarwal of Praful Sarees. They are out on bail.
Agarwal had accused the Shettys in 2003 of giving a contract to Fazl-ur-Rehman of the D-gang to recover Rs 2 crore from him. There was a financial dispute between Agarwal and Shilpa Shetty who had modelled for Praful Sarees. Recently, the Surat police filed a chargesheet against Fazl-ur-Rehman in a local court for extorting money from Agarwal.
