Gangster Ravi Pujari arrested in S.Africa, extradited from Senegal
Bengaluru: Fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari has been arrested in South Africa and being brought to India by a team of officials, including senior IPS officers from Karnataka, a top police official said on Sunday.
Pujari, wanted in many cases including extortion and murder in different parts of the country, including Karnataka, and been on the run for over 15 years, was deported to Senegal in West Africa following his arrest and later extradited.
He had jumped bail in Senegal last year after being arrested there.
(We are) coming with him from Senegal. Now in Paris. (We are) coming by Air France and (would be) there (in India) by midnight, the police official, part of the team.
Pujari, who hails from Karnataka, was likely to be brought here by Monday morning, police sources said.
The National Investigation Agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Research and Analysis Wing would join the investigation, the sources said.
According to police, the gangster, facing over 200 cases including murder and extortion, was arrested in January last year by the Senegal authorities after remaining elusive.
Despite efforts of Indian officials to get him extradited then, a local court had granted him bail and Pujari later fled to South Africa.
Police sources on Sunday said the gangster was nabbed from a village in a joint operation by the South African and Senegal police.
After he was brought to Senegal, the Indian team completed extradition formalities, they added.
Pujari was initially associated with gangster Chhota Rajan, but he had also worked for fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
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England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
