A day after he was deported from the United States, Obed Radiowala, an aide of gangster Ravi Pujari, was on Wednesday produced before the Esplanade court and sent to police custody till Thursday.

The crime branch arrested him in a 2014 case, when he allegedly gave a contract to kill film director Mahesh Bhatt at the behest of Pujari.

According to US authorities, Radiowala, 46, was an illegal immigrant.

In September 2017, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took him in custody during a crackdown on illegal immigrants.

On Monday, an American immigration court issued an order to deport him.

On Wednesday, he was first produced before the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court. The court refused to hear the remand application as the MCOCA charges against him were dropped in April last year, after 10 people were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in the case. The convicted persons included Radiowala’s brother, Mohammed Anees Merchant.

The police then produced Radiowala before the Esplanade court seeking his custody.

The court granted the police custody for a day. It also asked for the case papers to ascertain Radiowala’s role and why the MCOCA charges were dropped.

In November 2014, a group of men had assembled outside Bhatt’s Khar residence to shoot him. Bhatt was out of the city during the incident.

Radiowala’s name came up during investigation in October 2015, after Merchant’s wife gave her statement to the crime branch.

First Published: Apr 04, 2019 07:10 IST