Mumbai: Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt had been receiving death threats from an unidentified caller recently who demanded a sum of Rs 50 lakh to be deposited in a Lucknow-based bank branch. Reports suggest, that the caller had threatened the filmmaker, that failure to meet his demands could possibly result in the death of his daughter Alia, and wife Soni.
This is not the first time the ace filmmaker has faced extortion calls or threats to his life from gangsters. Mahesh Bhatt was earlier provided police protection in face of intimidation from miscreants. Here is the timeline of Bhatt’s encounters with the notorious gangs and the action Mumbai Police took against them.
1999: The crime branch had killed three gangsters who were trailing Bhatt from the Film City in Mumbai’s Goregaon area.
2006: Members of Ravi Pujari gang opened fire inside Bhatt’s Vishesh Films office in DN Nagar in Juhu area of western Mumbai. The filmmaker was away at the time of the incident.
2014: Mumbai Police arrested and invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) against 11 alleged members of Ravi Pujari’s gang. They were held in connection with a plot to attack Mahesh Bhatt, Mukesh Bhatt and Rahul Bhatt.
2015: Mumbai police recorded the Bhatts’ statement in the presence of a metropolitan judicial magistrate in July 2015.
2016: Mumbai Police framed charges against the arrested members of Ravi Pujari’s gang. Judge V V Patil framed charges against the accused under eight counts.
