The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken custody of Afsar Pasha, a convicted terrorist who was previously held at Hindalga Central Jail in Belagavi. Pasha’s custody is related to the threatening phone calls made to Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. The individual responsible for these calls, Jayesh Pujari, another inmate at Hindalga jail, was arrested by the Nagpur police in March of this year.
Jayesh Pujari, also known as Jayesh Kantha, is a convicted murderer in Mangaluru and the main suspect in several other cases. He was serving his sentence at Hindalga Jail when he made the threatening calls to Gadkari on January 14 and March 21, using a cell phone he had obtained while in prison. Pujari demanded a payment of Rs 10 crore and threatened to detonate a bomb if the minister did not comply.
The Maharashtra police, who conducted the investigation, apprehended Jayesh after filing a complaint at the Nagpur police station.
During the inquiry, the police discovered that Pasha, who has connections to the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, had incited Jayesh to make the calls. Pasha had previously been convicted for a lone-wolf terrorist attack at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru in 2005.