The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken possession of a flat worth Rs 55 lakh in Maharashtra's Thane, held in the name of an associate of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar, as part of a money laundering probe. ED Officials said Tuesday that the residential dwelling in Neopolis Building located in Thane West was attached as part of a provisional order issued under the PMLA in 2022 against its owner Mumtaz Ezaz Shaikh.

 The adjudicating authority of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had approved this provisional attachment order paving way for the ED to take its possession. The procedure for taking possession of the flat was completed recently.  The ED had earlier said in a statement that this flat was extorted by Kaskar and others from a Thane-based real estate developer Suresh Devichand Mehta.

 "Mehta was running the business of construction with his partner through his firm Darshan enterprises. The accused Iqbal Kaskar, Mumtaz Shaikh and Israr Ali Jamil Saiyad due to close proximity with underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar managed to extort one flat in Thane in the name of Mumtaz Ezaz Shaikh," the agency had said.

Besides the flat, it had then said, four cheques totalling Rs 10 lakhs "as demanded by them" were issued by the builder which has been "encashed" by the accused through cash withdrawals.  The money laundering stems from a Thane Police FIR of September, 2017. The police had pressed charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused. Kaskar is currently in jail under judicial custody. Dawood Ibrahim has been declared terrorist by India and is stated to be based in Pakistan.