Ravi Pujari (Twitter)EVEN AS both Mumbai Police and Karnataka Police are in the process of preparing extradition requests for underworld gangster Ravi Pujari who was detained in Senegal on January 22, the government is set to seek his deportation. While the extradition process could take a few months after the Indian government and Pujari are both given a hearing, if Senegal agrees to deport Pujari, he could be in the country within a matter of days.
A source in the security establishment said, “Efforts being made at the diplomatic level with Senegal to get the gangster deported. It will hasten the process of getting him back to the country to face the law.”
Deportation is the process of expelling a foreign national from a country where he is present illegally. Pujari has an Indian passport but was using a fake passport in the name of Antony Fernandez in Senegal.
Extradition, on the other hand, is the process whereby a person in one country faces a criminal case in another country. In such a case, the country that wants his custody has to apply for extradition, after which both sides are given a hearing.
“The process of extradition can be a long drawn one that allows the person to appeal the extradition order. The extradition process of Dawood Ibrahim henchman Munna Jhingada from Thailand has been going on for a few years. Hence, we want to speed up the process of getting Pujari to India through deportation, as was the case with gangster Chhota Rajan, who was deported to India from Indonesia,” a senior officer said.
Ravi Pujari’s Burkina Faso identity card.Meanwhile, sources said that the Mumbai Police was informed about the operation to detain Pujari around January 19 and was kept in the loop once the operation was successful. It provided French translations of documents about cases against Pujari to authorities in Senegal. It has also begun the process of preparing an extradition request.
A source said, “We have shortlisted around 10 to 15 of the 50 cases against Pujari where there is strong evidence against him…We will also provide fingerprints of Pujari that we have on our record.”
