Threat calls to Gadkari: 2005 IISc Bengaluru terror attack convict brought to Nagpur as part of probe

A man convicted in the 2005 terror attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru and serving his sentence in a jail in Belagavi was brought to Nagpur on Saturday in connection with threat and extortion calls made to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. Afsar Pasha was arrested from prison in Karnataka and brought here on a production warrant in the evening, Nagpur Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said. The Nagpur police team had reached Balagavi on Thursday and his custody was obtained on Saturday after all legal formalities were completed, Kumar said. A probe began after a threat and extortion call seeking Rs 100 crore was received on January 14 this year at the Nagpur-based public relations office of Gadkari. Another such call was received on March 21 and the probe zeroed in on Jayesh Pujari, a convict lodged in Belagavi jail in the southern state, police had said. Pujari was brought to Nagpur on March 28 and two cases were registered against him under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Indian Penal Code at Dhantoli police station. As per police, the probe revealed a connection between Pujari and Afsar Pasha, who was involved in terror activities in Jammu and Kashmir and was also convicted in a 2012 case for recruiting operatives for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba there.