Singer Arijit Singh is the latest in line of celebrities to fall prey to underworld’s threat calls.
The singer who received an extortion call from gangster Ravi Pujari to cough up Rs. 5 crore or do shows for free has refused to get any police protection from the Mumbai police.
However, without giving any figure, Arijit confirmed the matter via an official statement to the media.
He said that he generally doesn’t answer unknown numbers and the day when Ravi Pujari called, his phone was switched off. A call was later made to his manager Tarsame Mittal. He further said, ‘Tarsame told me he wants to talk to me and made a conference call. By then I got to know from Tarsame that he was asking a ridiculous amount of money. But over the phone he was talking like a gentle- man and asked me if I can sing songs for him and told me to be in touch. My manager gave a statement to police station about it and the police confirmed with me as well.
They offered me security but I told them I have not been threatened so I don’t need security.
Later on I got to know from Tarsame that Nattu Bhai (show organiser in the USA) got a random call from some promoter to do a show with us in a lower budget and that’s why he asked Ravi Pujari to call and finalise it. My management spoke to the promoter and sorted it out. We will do the show if it is under controlled budget. My reaction is pretty normal about it as it is not a big deal. We got pressurised from various sources before and trust to handle those were much more difficult. This matter is getting hyped because of one name- Ravi Pujari. We are touring in the USA. And definitely doing the shows
I have faith in every single human being around me. Everything will be fine. (sic.)”.
He said that he comes from Murshidabad and he is a simple guy. He would rather go back and live peacefully in his native place.
On Twitter, he wrote: “It’s a humble request to media to stop bothering me about news. There are other important things happening in India.”
