My name is Poojari and I'm not a gangster: Cops detain woman for sharing name with don's wife

Case of mistaken identities aren’t new at airports.  Earlier, actor Shah Rukh Khan has been detained at a New York airport, former President APJ Abdul Kalam was twice detained at the same airport. Only last month, Sarah Thomas ended up spending five days in jail after her detention at Chennai airport on mistaken identity. Sara was presumed to be Thomas Sara Williams, an accused in a cheating case who has been absconding for 13 years. And now, a 42-year-old woman from Mumbai was detained for over 30 hours by the police just because she shared the name of wanted gangster Ravi Pujari’s wife. [caption id=“attachment_2016935” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] On Monday, when Shridevi Poojari was on her way to Dubai to celebrate Christmas with her family, she was stopped by the immigration officials and then interrogated for over 30 hours by three different police wings. She was released after it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. The Managlore police had issued a nation-wide Look Out Notice (LOC) against Pujari’s wife. Incidentally, even Shridevi’s son shares the gangster’s son’s name. “I was taken to a small room, along with my family, and, in 45 minutes, a lot of policemen arrived there…After treating me like a high-profile criminal, police officials started to ask me questions about myself and gangster Ravi Pujari and if I knew him. Whenever me or my son wanted to use the washroom, gun-trotting police officers followed us,” Shridevi told DNA. “My name is Poojari and I am not a gangster, or his wife,” she reportedly told the police. Shridevi also said that even after the police were convinced that she had no link with Ravi Pujari, they did not let her go because they had to verify her identity. It was only when an inspector working with the Mumbai crime branch, who had actually seen Pujari’s wife, said that Shridevi was not Pujari’s wife that some clarity was achieved on Shridevi’s identity. “Sridevi Santosh Pujari and her son Aryan were allowed to go after Mangalore Police questioned them and recorded their statements. She is not the person Mangalore Police were looking for,” a police officer told PTI. As per Mangalore Police records, Ravi Pujari and his wife Sridevi are wanted in the extortion case. Incidentally, Ravi Pujari’s son’s name is also Aryan. Mangalore Police were alerted and the duo was handed over to Sahar Airport Police station. A team of Mangalore Police reached Mumbai yesterday and questioned the duo to ascertain if they were related to Pujari, said to be based overseas. Mumbai Crime Branch had yesterday itself said it was a case of mistaken identity and the detained woman is not the wife of the underworld don, who was recently in news for plotting to target Bollywood personalities. “The Mangalore team questioned the two only to find that the judgement of Mumbai Police was right. Once they were satisfied (about her real identity), they allowed the lady and her son to go home,” the officer added. The duo was detained for over 24 hours after taking permission from a court, police said. As per norms, if a citizen is detained for more than 24 hours without court permission, it would be deemed as illegal. According to Mumbai Police records, Pujari’s wife’s name is Padma, who was arrested in a fake passport case in 2005. She was released on bail after a month, but she fled the country within six months after managing to obtain another passport in the name of Sridevi Santosh Pujari. With inputs from PTI