Struggling Bollywood director arrested for extortion call to former Gujarat minister posing as Ravi Pujari aide

Morbi: The Morbi Police in a joint operation with its Mumbai counterpart has nabbed a struggling Bollywood director for giving a threat call to former Gujarat minister and Industrialist Jayantibhai Kavadiya in the name of notorious gangster Ravi Pujari and asking for extortion money from him.

In-charge SP Akshayraj Makwana today said that Ashish Sharma, a native of Uttar Pradesh, who is a struggling film director in Mumbai, was in the habit of getting phone numbers of people from internet and giving them threat calls in this manner.

He had made a call on Kavadiya’s number asking for Rs 5 lakh as extortion money. His PA Ravi Sanavada had filed a complaint with the A-division police here that when he rang back a missed call number on May 16 from the local residence of Kavadiya near new bus stand, Ashish posing as an aide of Pujari gave the threat.

‘The former minister, who was also associated with the local ceramics business himself talked to the caller posing as PA. The caller identified himself as Pujari’s aide Arjun and asked for extortion money of Rs 5 lakh. The money he said should be delivered to him in Mumbai. Police of Morbi and Mumbai during a joint operation nabbed him in Mumabi yesterday and he has been brought here today,’ Makwana said. ‘He is in the habit of doing so. He is not associated with Pujari gang. He had also made such attempts on some of the bollywood people,’ the SP said adding that further interrogation was on.

DeshGujarat