Ravi Pujari (50) was detained in Dakar on January 19 on the basis of information provided by Indian agencies. (File)AFTER SENDING French translations of 10 case files containing details of FIRs registered against gangster Ravi Pujari to the Karnataka Police for his extradition, the Mumbai Police is doubling down on speeding up the translations of another 18 cases.
The Karnataka Police told The Indian Express on Monday that a senior officer will travel to Senegal — where Pujari was detained on January 19 — to complete the extradition process. While French translations of several cases lodged against Pujari across the country, including 10 from Mumbai, have been forwarded to Senegal by the Karnataka Police, the Mumbai Police will be sending another batch of 18 files after the translation work is done to further bolster their case against the gangster.
The translations are a time-consuming process, the police said. The crime branch used the services of around 10 people in translating these documents, mainly chargesheets, from Marathi to English. However, it is the second round of translations — from English to French — the official languages of Senegal, that has become a long drawn affair for the Mumbai Police, given the copious amount of documents to be submitted.
Read | Karnataka top cop set to go to Senegal for Ravi Pujari’s extradition
A senior officer said that immediately after Pujari was detained in Senegal, the Mumbai Police had sent basic details about the cases registered against him in English to facilitate his extradition. “However, we were informed that they needed documents in French, as it is the official language of the country. While there is an official translator of the state government at Mumbai University (MU) who is carrying out translation work, we have sought the services of six more persons, currently carrying out the translation work,” the officer added.
An officer said that while there are 49 cases against Pujari, they are focussing on 28 serious cases since 2005, when MCOCA was invoked. “There are at least over 100 pages worth of details in Marathi attached to each case. First, there is a team of people who have been advised to translate these documents into English. This translation is further handed over to the French translators, who will eventually provide the final version of the documents to us,” the officer added.
The crime branch has sent documents translated into English to the state government’s official translator affiliated to MU’s Department of French. However, since the total number of documents to be translated is high, six others have been roped in to translate the documents into French. “Since we had finished the translation process of 10 cases, we forwarded the same to Karnataka Police,” the officer said.
The officer added that the delay will not have any impact on the extradition proceedings, as they have already sent the initial batch of documents to Senegal soon after Pujari was detained. “These are additional documents we are sending to further strengthen the case. He is under detention in Senegal and there is no chance of him being released as the extradition request is pending,” the officer said. Apart from the extradition request, diplomatic efforts are also being made to see if he can be deported to India. As compared to extradition, deportation is a simpler and faster process.
In the past, the Mumbai Police had translated Marathi case papers related to Rajendra Nikalje alias Chhota Rajan into Bahasa, national language of Indonesia, where he was detained. Recently, the crime branch also translated case papers of former Dawood Ibrahim gang shooter Sayyad Hussain alias Munna Jhingada, detained in Thailand, into Thai.
