Thane sessions court recently rejected the bail plea of two aides of gangsters Suresh Poojari and Prasad Poojari, who were involved in an extortion bid from a builder. Thane's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Avinash Jadhav had received death threats from the gang when he had tried to intervene in the matter, since he had personally known the builder. The two were arrested in June after Jadhav had filed an official police complaint of extortion charges after receiving threat calls from Prasad Poojari from an international number. Poojari threatened Jadhav to stay away from the extortion matter or else he too would face the consequences. The builder, who Jadhav was acquainted with, had approached him when he had received an extortion call demanding Rs 24 lakh from Sandesh Shetty. When Jadhav rang up Shetty, the man told him that he was asking the money on behalf of gangsters Suresh Poojari and Prasad Poojari. When Jadhav had met Shetty the following day, Shetty had allegedly threatened him that he will get calls from Prasad Poojari. In no time Jadhave started receiving calls from international numbers. Another aide Nitin Shettigar is supposed to have helped Shetty connect with Prasad Poojari to make threat calls. The two accused - Sandesh Shetty and Nitin Shettigar - had filed for bail on the grounds that they have been falsely implicated and that the calls were for recovery of a loan from the builder and not for extortion. They had also claimed due to some political rivalry Jadhav filed the complaint. Rejecting their bail pleas, Additional Sessions Judge D G Marumkar said in his order, "The investigation is not completed and material evidence regarding Call Data Record (CDR) in respect of phone calls of absconding accused Prasad Poojari and first informant (Jadhav) and arrested accused is yet to be collected. If they are released on bail at this stage they are not only likely to abscond but would also tamper with prosecution evidence with the help of money and muscle power. Therefore the application is liable for rejection."

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