On a tip-off that Ravi Pujari planned to kidnap a hotelier, a team from Unit I of the Crime Branch laid a trap at Ballard Estate. Pujari is said to be a close associate of Chikna Babu, the right hand man of Ashwin Naik and among the top 10 gangsters wanted by the Mumbai police.

When Pujari arrived on foot with an associate at around 12.30 am, the police team asked the duo to surrender. However, Pujari allegedly opened fire from his revolver at the police team who fired back injuring the gangster on his chest. He was rushed to the nearby St George Hospital where he succumbed to the gunshot wounds. Police have recovered his revolver.

According to Assistant Police Inspector Ravindranath Angre, who was part of the Crime Branch encounter team, Pujari along with Chikna Babu had terrorised South Mumbai hotel owners and extorted amountsranging from Rs two lakh to Rs five lakh. The duo were involved in six murder cases including four hoteliers - Munna Shetty, Abdulla Shetty, Shankar Kharwah and Kishore Paste and two members of rival gangs, Shekhar Pawaskar and Raja Taralkar. Police said for the past few months, the duo had threatened owners of air-conditioned restaurants and bars at Fort, Colaba, Bora Bazar, Chira Bazar, Churchgate and Hutatma Chowk areas. Recently the owners of four restaurants and bars namely White House, Canara Bar and Restaurant, Harish Lunch Home and Topaz Bar and Restaurant had lodged complaints with the Anti-Extortion Cell against Pujari.

In another incident, the police arrested a member of the Abu Salem gang allegedly for threatening the director of a textile mill on Saturday evening.Ramshahai Lalas Prasad Yadav alias Pradhan alias Babu (21) was arrested by the in front of the main gate at Fantasy Land amusement park at Jogeshwari (East).

According to the police, between February 17 and March 3 Yadav had senttwo threatening letters to Bharat Manharlal Shah (39), Executive Director of Textile Mills Ltd demanding Rs 15 lakh. The letters, which were sent in the name of Shah's father Manharlal, threatened to eliminate the Shah family if he failed to pay up.

Shah then loged a complaint with the Crime Branch and the police team laid a trap outside Fantasy Land and nabbed Yadav. He was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate V P Taware at the Holiday court and has been remanded to police custody upto March 15. ú