Kochi: The Kerala crime police yesterday arrested two men said to be aides of underworld don Ravi Pujari in connection with alleged shooting at actress Leena Maria Paul’s beauty parlour.
According to media reports, the men were identified as Bilal (25) from Aluva and Vipin Varghese (30) from Kadavanthra. here were arrested by a team of crime branch police, they said.
On 3 November, the controversial actress had alleged that she had received Internet threat calls on her mobile phone, demanding Rs 25 crore under instructions from gangster Ravi Pujari. The caller threatened to kill her if the money was not paid, she had claimed.
On 15 December, the men wearing helmets had barged into the parlour located in Panampilly Nagar and fired two shots before speeding away on a bike.
In the aftermath, Pujari had also allegedly telephoned a media house and challenged the Kerala Police to arrest his men who had fired shots at the beauty parlour.
It has been reported that the job was assigned to the men by a man from Kasargod district who is also said to be a key member of Pujari’s gang and had offered for Rs 50 lakhs to carry out the crime.
The police escorted the men to the beauty parlour to gather evidence. The Kerala police said in a release that Pujari has been taken into custody by the Interpol and police in African nation Senegal. Efforts are on to bring him back to India.
Leena Maria Paul has acted in Bollywood film ‘Madras Cafe‘, Tamil movie ‘Biriyani‘ and Malayalam films ‘Husbands in Goa’ and ‘Red Chillies‘.
She was accused in a bank fraud case and was associated with alleged con man Sukesh Chandrashekhar, now in Tihar jail in a matter related to a bid to bribe the Election Commission, involving Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam leader and R K Nagar MLA T T V Dinakaran.