Mumbai Underworld headed for a Mangalorean takeover?

March 22, 2011

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Mumbai, March 22: The Mangalorean mafia seems headed towards a partial takeover of the Mumbai underworld.

After Ravi Pujari killed two engineers at an Andheri construction site to send a chilling message to a builder on March 14, it was his bete noire Hemant Pujari's turn to strike with the murder of a businessman in Goregaon on Saturday.

Hemant Pujari hired shooter Mukesh Sharma alias Shabbir alias Nurul Islam Suleiman from Uttar Pradesh to gun down Angara Pujari, a Monginis frachisee.

Angara was shot through the neck at noon near Goregaon railway station, confirmed Additional Commissioner of Police (north region) Ramarao Pawar.

"We are trying to confirm the role of two women accomplices and whether this faction was involved in earlier crimes," he said.

A local accomplice was picked up by the police last evening but investigators refused to divulge his name saying it would hamper further investigations.

Initial investigations have indicated that Angara had been receiving threats from members of the Hemant Pujari gang, or HP gang as they are known in the underworld, for a long time. A complaint had also been lodged in this connection in 2008.

Police say Hemant and Ravi Pujari, both Mangalorean gangsters, are trying to gain a firm foothold in the western suburbs. They are outsourcing the shootouts to avoid suspicion.

"Hemant Pujari had almost been hibernating for the past few months. The timing of the businessman's murder points to him feeling threatened by his former associates and fellow Mangaloreans Ravi Pujari and Santosh Shetty stepping up their activities in Mumbai," said an underworld source.

The trio had broken away from mentor Chhota Rajan around 2001. Shetty made a name for himself in the underworld with the killing of gangster Bharat Nepali in Bangkok.

Underworld insiders say that, with the latest murder, the Pujaris and Shetty seem set to corner the income from the builder community in the western suburbs.

Ravi Pujari lived near the Sahar airport and was educated there before getting involved in underworld operations. His mentor, Sri Mama, inducted him into the Chhota Rajan gang in 1995 and he formed a deadly combination with Rajan's key lieutenant Guru Satam before breaking away from the gang. Ravi Pujari was not taken seriously until the recent killing at Andheri.

Hemant Pujari was working as a waiter in Ghatkopar before joining hands with Chhota Rajan after a killing at Kherwadi, where he lived and grew up. He was part of Rajan's core team and broke away from him around 2002 to work on his own. He holds sway over Bandra (East) and between Goregaon and Vasai.

Santosh Shetty alias Madan Sharma was part of the Chhota Rajan gang between 1993 and 2002. He operates from countries such as Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia and was masterminding drug deals before switching over to running extortion syndicates in Mumbai.

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News Network
April 27,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 27: As many as 345 Bengaluru-based journalists tested negative for coronavirus on Monday after undergoing a medical check-up got up for them at a hospital here, a top official said.

They had undergone the tests at the Sir C V Raman General Hospital here on April 25 and the results came out negative on Monday. They were among a total of 1,170 journalists who took the tests at the four-day medical check-up camp at the Hospital here from April 23.

"The medical check-up was done in four slots at the Hospital here from Thursday and concluded on Monday. A total of 1,170 journalists undertook the tests, 480 of them on Monday alone, the joint director of the Department of Information and Public Relation D P Muralidhar said.

The test reports of the 480 journalists may come out on Wednesday, he said. Only one journalist tested positive so far and has been admitted to the designated COVID-19 hospital, he said, adding 36 of his primary and secondary contacts have been quarantined.

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News Network
January 24,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 24: On the last day of his four-day trip to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum, chief minister BS Yediyurappa urged the global business community to invest in cities other than Bengaluru in the state.

On Thursday, while extending an invitation to entrepreneurs to participate in the Global Investors Meet in November in Bengaluru, Yediyurappa highlighted the “conducive investment climate” in the state vis-a-vis others by pointing to its 7% growth rate which is much higher than the national average of below 5%.

He also pointed to the state’s rich history and the fact that it is home to a number of desi MNCs such as Infosys, Biocon Wipro and Dynamatics. “At the same time, the state has one of the lowest unemployment rates compared to the national average,” Yediyurappa said.

In his address to heads of businesses, industries minister Jagadish Shettar also urged investors to consider Tier 2 and 3 cities for investment. “Land banks have been created in Tier 2 and 3 cities and regional connectivity has improved. Let us strive to place Karnataka on a highgrowth path,” Shettar said.

Lending a “helping hand”, Union minister Piyush Goyal, in his address, appealed to the community to invest in Karnataka, which “has a robust and congenial industrial atmosphere”, but also urged them to spread “tentacles” to all parts of the country.

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News Network
February 12,2020

Kathmandu, Feb 12: Nepal has suspended the licence of a mountainous resort for three months due to poor security management and managerial weakness at the hotel where eight Indian tourists, including four minors, died of possible asphyxiation, according to media reports.

Kathmandu: Nepal has suspended the licence of a mountainous resort for three months due to poor security management and managerial weakness at the hotel where eight Indian tourists, including four minors, died of possible asphyxiation, according to media reports.

Tragedy struck a group of 15 tourists from Kerala when eight of them died on January 21 due to possible asphyxiation after they fell unconscious probably due to a gas leak from a heater in their room at a mountainous resort in Makwanpur district.

The tourists were airlifted to HAMS hospital here where they were pronounced dead on arrival. Makwanpur police said the victims might have fallen unconscious due to asphyxiation.

The Department of Tourism on Sunday imposed a ban on the operation of Daman-based Everest Panorama Resort for three months based on the report submitted by a probe committee formed to investigate the death of the Indian tourists from Kerala, the Kathmandu Post reported on Tuesday.

The department decided to shut down the resort as the report submitted by a probe committee pointed out poor security management and managerial weakness at the resort for the incident, it said.

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation had formed the probe committee under Surendra Thapa, the director of the Department of Tourism. After a field inspection, the committee had submitted its report a few days ago, pointing to the shortcomings of the resort.

During the investigation, the committee found the resort had not been following the recommended safety measures and was providing substandard services to its guests, The Himalayan Times reported.

Moreover, the committee discovered that the resort had not fulfilled the criteria set by DoT to be categorised a 'resort', it said.

Mira Acharya, director of DoT was quoted as saying by the report that the resort's operations have been halted as per Section 15 of Tourism Act-1979.

"If the resort owner wishes to resume services after three months of suspension, the resort should be upgraded as per the Hotel, Lodge, Restaurant, Bar and Tourist Guide Rules-1981 and also meet the criteria mentioned in a notice published in the Nepal Gazette under the title 'Hotel Classification and Criteria'," Acharya said.

She added that the resort would also have to undergo the Environment Impact Assessment to get the permission from DoT to resume operation.

Meanwhile, the resort management has said that they will work towards meeting the standards fixed by the department and run the resort efficiently.

"We will work towards meeting the standards fixed by the department and run the resort efficiently. We are saddened by the tragic incident. We will ensure that such incidents don't occur in the future,” said Sudesh Gautam, the operator of the resort was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post.

The group, after travelling to Pokhara -- a popular mountainous tourist destination -- was on their way back home and stayed at Everest Panorama Resort in Daman.

Those who were killed were Praveen Krishnan Nair, his wife Saranya Sasi and their three children and Ranjith Kumar Adatholath Punathil, his wife Indu Lakshmi Peethambaran Ragalatha and their son.

Everest Panorama Resort was established 28 years ago in Daman Simbhajyang area, a tourist destination in Bagmati Province. The tourist numbers, according to Thaha Hotel Association, have plunged after the tragic accident of January 27.

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