Kochi: Ravi Pujari has reportedly given a confessional statement that he had tried to extort money from actor Leena Maria Paul, and others with the help of a certain Malayali named ‘Jiya’.
In his statement, Ravi Pujari has said that Jiya had compiled the list of people who are likely to pay money if they were issued death threats and handed over their phone numbers to him while he was abroad.
The investigation team is trying to confirm the name 'Jiya', which is not a common name in the state. As he has been arrested, it is also suspected that Pujari could have made the revelations to put the entire responsibility of the crime on another person and protect the others in the criminal gang.
A doctor, who is a close friend of fugitive Ajaz from Kollam, had reportedly told 'Jiya' that Leena Maria Paul had amassed Rs 25 crore of black money. Ravi Pujari was also aware of the dealings of Sukash Chandrasekhar, a business partner of Leena and who is accused in financial cases.
Ajaz and his doctor friend reckoned that they could threaten Leena and extort money from her. And for this ‘Jiya’ contacted Ravi Pujari.
At the beginning of the investigation into the case, the probe team had come across the name 'Ziya', suspected to be the brain behind the Kasaragod gang. The police had got information that Ziya was also abroad when the fifth accused Nisam Ali and sixth accused Ajaz fled the country after the incident. But there is not enough evidence to arraign Ziya as an accused in the case. Now, it is suspected that ‘Ziya’ and 'Jiya', the name revealed by Ravi Pujari now, could be one and the same person.
Voice samples collected
The probe team has collected the voice samples of gangster Ravi Pujari, accused in the Kadavanthra beauty parlour firing case. Ravi Pujari was taken to the All India Radio studio at Kakkanad in Kochi on Saturday to record his voice samples.
A person who claimed to be Ravi Pujari had threatened actor Leena Maria Paul, the owner of the Kadavanthra beauty parlour, over the phone. Also, a man had phoned a news channel and claimed responsibility of the firing incident. The probe team plans to compare Pujari’s voice samples with these two voice clips. The voice samples recorded on Saturday would be sent to the forensic lab for this.
The probe team will again record the statements of complainant in the case, actor Leena Maria Paul. The team has issued a notice to the complainant in this regard. The firing incident took place on December 15, 2018.
