Gangster Kumar Pillai, who was extradited from Singapore on the night of June 27, was on Tuesday sent to police custody till July 7, by the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court.
The Crime Branch sought his remand on three grounds: it wanted to take his voice samples to match with a call that he had made for extortion; it wanted to check from where his gang members got weapons, considering his association with the LTTE; and it wanted to investigate the other cases of murder and extortion against him
On Monday, Pillai was arrested by a five-member team of the Mumbai Crime Branch and was kept at the police headquarters at Crawford market. Pillai is wanted in seven-eight cases of murder, attempt to murder, and extortion in Mumbai.
In 2013, Pillai had given up his Indian passport at the Hong Kong embassy and procured a Chinese-Hong Kong passport. Because of this, the Mumbai Police had to supply DNA samples and various other documents to get him back from Singapore.
Born to affluent parents in Vikhroli, Pillai’s academic qualification as a textile engineer was never put to test. His father, a club owner, was killed after he refused to sell his club to a local corporator. And it paved the way for Pillai’s entry into the syndicates of organised crime. He vowed not to wear any footwear till he exterminated his father's killers.
Kumar Pillai joined the Amar Naik gang in 1994, and committed seven murders to avenge his father’s death. Later, he left Amar Naik’s gang and is alleged to have planned the murder of the owner of Khatau mills, Sunit Khatau, in 1994. Pillai was arrested in 1998, but was later released on bail. That was the last anyone had heard of Pillai. Police sources said that Pillai left the country and settled in Hong Kong. His mother still runs a school at Vikhroli (E).
