Mumbai: Actor Sonu Sood deposed as a prosecution witness before the special MCOCA court on Tuesday in the 2014 shooting incident related to producer Karim Morani. In his 2014 statement to the police, Sood had said that he had received a threatening message from someone who identified themselves to be “Don Ravi Pujari”.

Sood had then said that on August 26, 2014, a few days after the alleged shootout, at 1.45 am, he received an SMS from an international number saying, “Don't go to the USA show slam or i will kill you talk to me; pass this message to Shah Rukh Khan. Don Ravi Pujari.” The show was in connection to the promotions of their film “Happy New Year”.

On Tuesday, special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat asked him several questions pertaining to the statement. Sood stood in the witness box placed at the front of court room number 55 of the City Civil and Sessions Court, Kala Ghoda. Several litigants and lawyers had come to catch a glimpse of the actor. Gharat said that Sood deposed in accordance to his earlier statement.

So far over 30 witnesses have deposed during the trial with a couple turning hostile.

During his cross examination by the defence, Sood said he could not remember the exact statement he had given to the police. The statement was then read out to him and in response to the defence questions he accepted the statement given. He denied that the story was concocted for the promotion of the movie Happy New Year in which he starring along with Khan and several others.

On August 23, 2014, around three men astride a motorcycle allegedly slowed down before producer Karim Morani family's four-storey house in Juhu, shot three rounds and sped away. Nobody was injured. It was alleged that Pujari wanted arrested accused Obaid Abdula to obtain the overseas rights of film Happy New Year.

Police have beefed up security at the residence and office of actor Shah Rukh Khan after fugitive gangster Ravi Pujari mentioned the actor's name in an SMS threat issued to film producer Karim Morani and fol lowed it up with a threat call to the actor's office.The threats came after three unidentified men from the Pujari gang fired three rounds outside Morani's Juhu residence on Saturday.

Morani, seen as being close to Shah Rukh, runs a big Bollywood event management company, Cineyug Entertainment, that organizes shows abroad for the major stars.

A police officer said the gangster wanted Shah Rukh Khan to stage a foreign show for his friend for free. The actor is in the process of organizing shows to promote his upcoming movie abroad, and Pujari felt these shows were being handled by Morani's company. Though Morani made it clear that his company was not involved, Pujari refused to believe him and first threatened one of Morani's relatives before asking shooters to fire outside the producer's home, the police officer said. After Saturday's incident, the gangster sent an SMS threat to Morani in which he mentioned Shah Rukh's name, sources said. The police then strengthened the security already provided outside the actor's home in view of the coming Bandra Fair. On Tuesday, Pujari called on the office number of Shah Rukh's production house, Red Chillies Entertainment, at Santa Cruz (West), and reportedly asked the office staff to warn the actor that he should keep a distance from some Pakistan-based gangsters.

A special team has been formed under the leadership of senior inspector of Juhu police station, Abhay Shastri, to track down the men who fired at the producer's home. Crime branch teams too are on the lookout. At around 11pm on Saturday, Pujari's three associates on a motorcycle slowed down before the Morani family's fourstorey house in Juhu, shot three rounds and sped away. One bullet scraped a sedan parked outside and got lodged into a tree.The rest hit a window. Nobody was injured. The next morning, the guards noticed the graze mark on the vehicle and the crack in the window and informed Juhu police.

Morani, who was executive producer of Shah Rukh Khan's film 'Ra.One' and co-produced his 'Chennai Express,' runs Cineyug Entertainment along with his brothers Ali and Mohammad.

Though their family business is fireworks, the Moranis became Bollywood's leading star concert organizers in the 1980s and '90s and enjoyed a virtual monopoly in the business until G S Entertainment run by Sohail Khan and Wizcraft came along to organize similar stage shows.

They got into film production in the mid-1980s, with Karim taking the lead in producing movies such as 'Yodhaa', 'Dushmani', 'Arjun' and 'Damini' featuring his classmate Sunny Deol. Their film 'Raja Hindustani', starring Aamir Khan, became a huge box office success, but their main source of revenue until the mid-90s continued to be their global concerts. Their luck at the box office ended in the wake of movies such as 'Dum' featuring Vivek Oberoi and 'Hum Ko Tumse Pyaar Hai', which had Arjun Rampal and Bobby Deol in it.

The family, however, bounced back, and today, Karim Morani is seen as SRK's alter ego and is currently working as co-producer on Red Chillies' film 'Happy New Year'. Karim's daughter Zoa made her debut as an actress in 'Always Kabhi Kabhi', a film produced by Shah Rukh's home banner in 2011.

In June 2011, Karim was sent to Tihar jail for his alleged involvement in the 2G scam. He was accused of facilitating the transfer of Rs 200 crore to DMK-run Kalaignar TV and pocketing Rs 6 crore.

The Preity Zinta-Ness Wadia mess has turned murkier with the industrialist's group lodging a complaint with the police that gangster Ravi Pujari has warned it against “harassing“ the actor.

The office of industrialist Nusli Wadia filed a case with the N M Joshi Marg police station on Tuesday, saying his personal secretary received a threatening call on the office phone followed by a text message on the mobile phone from someone claiming to be Pujari the day before.

Pujari, a splinter from Mumbai don Chhota Rajan's gang, is believed to be holed up in Australia and is wanted in Mumbai and Mangalore in over three dozen cases, mostly extortions bids. Police have registered a case of criminal intimidation and transferred it to the anti-extortion cell.

A crime branch official said when the caller wanted to speak to Nusli Wadia, he was told the industrialist was out of the country . He then left a message: “We are all from underworld. Preity Zinta should not be harassed or else... .'' Within an hour, the caller rang again, but the secretary disconnected. Soon, the secretary received a text message that said: “Give message to Wadia, don't f*** around with Preity Zinta or else I will f*** whole of your business. Don Ravi Pujari."

“Preliminary inquiries suggest the call was made using VOIP (voice over internet protocol, a technology that allows calls over the internet) and the mobile number from which Wadia's secretary received the SMS was from Iran," said police chief Rakesh Maria. Asked if it was a prank call, Maria said: “The crime branch will probe all those possible angles in this threat case."

Senior crime branch officials said the call could have been from Pujari, who is always looking to grab publicity. Last month, he had called up NSEL payment scandal accused Jignesh Shah's lawyer and demanded money. “If you see his past record, he has always tried to grab publicity to run his extortion racket. His victims are mostly from the film industry," said a senior IPS officer.

Bollywood personalities like Mahesh Bhatt, Karishma Kapoor's husband Sanjay Kapoor, Salman Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Akshay Kumar, Boney Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi have been at the receiving end of Pujari's racket.

Zinta's lawyer Hitesh Jain and the Wadia group spokesperson declined comment on the development.
Last Friday, Zinta had filed a complaint with the police against former boyfriend Ness, co-owner with her of IPL team Kings XI Punjab, accusing him of molestation and abusing her in public at Wankhede Stadium's Garware Pavilion during an IPL match on May 30. The Bombay Dyeing scion has denied the allegations as false and baseless.

The police are baffled that despite a crackdown on Pujari's henchmen, some film personalities and hoteliers are still talking to him over VOIP. In 2010, the crime branch had arrested Khar Gymkhana member Ravi Punjabi and Chembur-based builder Rakesh Sharma for passing on phone numbers of businessmen and film personalities to Pujari, who called and tried to extort money.