Nagpur Court Convicts LeT Terrorist, in Nitin Gadkari Extortion Threat Case

A court in Nagpur on Friday convicted Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Afsar Pasha and gangster Jayesh Pujari alias Shakir in connection with the extortion threat case involving Union minister Nitin Gadkari.

The case once again highlighted the alleged nexus between local organised crime networks and terrorist groups operating from outside India.

In January 2023, staff members at Gadkari’s office in the Sitabuldi area of Nagpur received several threatening phone calls demanding Rs 100 crore. The callers allegedly warned that the office would be blown up if the money was not delivered in Karnataka.

Following an investigation, police traced the calls to jailed gangster Jayesh Pujari, who was lodged at Hindalga Central Prison in Belagavi. Further probe revealed that Pujari had allegedly acted on the instructions of Afsar Pasha, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative believed to be linked to the 2022 Mangaluru cooker blast case.