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Last updated: May 09, 2023, 23:54 IST
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. (image file / pti)
The calls were allegedly made by convicted murder convict Jayesh Pujari alias Kanta, who has been arrested from jail in Pelagavi, Karnataka and booked under UAPA Anti-Terrorism Act
A police official said a team from the National Investigation Agency arrived in Nagpur on Tuesday to conduct an investigation into threatening phone calls made with Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.
The calls were allegedly made by the convicted murderer, Jayesh Pujari alias Kanta, who was arrested from jail in Pelagavi, Karnataka, and booked under the UAPA Anti-Terrorism Act.
A senior Nagpur police official said the NIA had registered a case in Bengaluru and the Mumbai unit of the CIA had been directed to conduct an investigation.
He said that a team from the National Intelligence Agency arrived in Nagpur from Mumbai and started collecting crucial documents and leads related to the case.
An exploration of the suspected role of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, and the underworld in the episode, the official said, is the main focus of the investigation.
On January 14, Pujari made a threatening call to the Gadkari PR office in Nagpur, demanding 100 crore rupees and claiming to be a member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang, according to the police.
At the time, he was being held in a jail in the neighboring state of Karnataka.
He made another call on March 21, police said, in which he threatened to harm a BJP Lok Sabha member from Nagpur if Rs 10 crore was not paid to him.
Pujari was arrested and brought to Nagpur on March 28 from the jail in Karnataka’s Bilagavi city, and the strict Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was invoked against him.
The official said that after receiving the green signal from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, NIA officials launched an investigation into the terrorism angle where Logari had ties with terrorists, including the commander of Lashkar’s southern division Captain Naseer.
He added that the convicted murderer received weapons training in the northeast.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is republished from a syndicated news agency feed.)
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