As the Belagavi suspect denied his involvement in making threatening calls to Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, the Nagpur police have decided to take statements from four individuals who were contacted by the suspect using the same mobile phone number.
According to a Hindu report, Pujari allegedly made the phone call “in retaliation” against prison officials for their strictness and lack of leniency in jail, as per prison sources.
According to Commissioner of Police Nagpur, Amitesh Kumar, police have examined the Call Detail Record (CDR) of the mobile number used to issue threats to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.
In addition to contacting Gadkari’s office, the suspect also spoke to four persons from Belagavi jail, where Jayesh Pujari, a resident of Mangalore, is currently being held on charges of extortion. The police are now in the process of recording the statements of these persons under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in order to establish Pujari’s alias, Shreyas Tejesh Poojari’s, involvement in the case.
When the police interrogated Pujari on Monday, he denied any involvement in the case. The mobile phone used to make the threatening calls has yet to be recovered by the Hindalga jail authorities. Pujari was identified by the police on the basis of the phone number which was shared by the caller himself. Similarly, the police also checked the phone number used to dial the BSNL number of Gadkari’s office.
The threat calls were received on the BSNL landline of Gadkari’s public relations office on Saturday, at 11.25 am, 11.45 am and 12.32 pm. Pujari reportedly told the telephone operator that he was a “D-gang member” and demanded Rs 100 crore ransom from the Minister. He also provided the details of the spot in Karnataka where he instructed the operator to deliver the parcel consisting of cash, and then threatened to kill Gadkari with a bomb, according to police.