Mumbai: Pujari's close aide killed in encounter

A close aide of gangster Ravi Pujari was on Saturday killed in an encounter with the police at suburban Santacruz, police said.

Acting on a tip off, crime branch officials laid a trap near R K Gardens when Rajendra Thapa, a close aide of Pujari, arrived on Saturday evening, Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy told PTI.

On being asked to surrender, he fired two rounds at the police. In defence, police fired five rounds in which he sustained severe injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead, Roy said.

Thapa is a right hand man of Pujari and was wanted in several cases including murder and extortion in the city, Roy added.