Nagpur, Mar 28 (IANS): The Nagpur Police have arrested a man from Belagavi, Karnataka, who issued telephonic death threats and demanded Rs 10 crore from Union Minister Nitin Gadkari last week, officials said here on Tuesday.

A Nagpur Police team went to Belagavi and took custody of the accused, Jayesh Poojari, who has been lodged ther in connection with some other crimes he has been convicted for.

The accused has been brought to Nagpur for further investigations and will soon be produced before a court for remand.

On March 21, Poojari had called up Gadkari's office near the Orange City Hospital at least thrice, identified himself and then demanded Rs 10 crore failing which the Union Minister could face harm.

The call was traced to a Mangaluru-based woman employed with an event management company who was also probed in the matter.

Four days after the threat calls, a Nagpur Police team went and searched the Hindalga Jail in Belagavi on March 25, where Poojari was lodged and undergoing a life sentence after being convicted in a dacoity-cum-murder case.

They recovered at least two mobiles and two SIM cards which Poojari was using illegally in the jail and were reportedly used to make the threats to Gadkari.

Earlier on January 14, Poojari, claiming to be a henchman of the absconder mafia don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, had called up Gadkari's office demanding a payout of Rs 100 crore, which was slashed to Rs 10 crore on March 21.