The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said it has filed a police FIR against some trespassers who took possession of a flat in Maharashtra’s Thane that was attached in 2022 as part of a money laundering investigation against fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar.
The agency said in a statement that certain persons entered the said property and allegedly interfered with the lock and also removed the possession notice (pasted by the ED), claiming ownership of the flat.
It had earlier alleged in a statement that this flat in Thane (West) was extorted by Kaskar from a local real estate developer, Suresh Devichand Mehta.
The agency said soon after it was informed about the trespass, it brought the matter to the notice of the designated special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Mumbai, which directed it to restore the possession with police assistance.
Following this, the lock of the said flat was changed in the presence of police personnel and witnesses, and the possession of the said flat was restored, the ED said.
“A fresh notice was also affixed on the premises clearly mentioning that any aggrieved person may either approach the office of the ED or the Hon’ble Court where the trial of the case is being conducted,” it said. The agency added that it lodged a complaint with Thane police (Kasarvadavali police station) on October 15 alleging unauthorised entry by trespassers and interference with the attached property.
The flat was provisionally attached by the ED in April 2022 under the PMLA as part of an investigation against Kaskar and some others on extortion charges.
The agency took possession of the property in December 2024 and affixed a notice to this effect after the Adjudicating Authority of the PMLA confirmed the said attachment order in September 2022.
The ED said the said flat was registered in May 2015 in the name of Mumtaz Azaz Sheikh, a co-accused in the case against Kaskar.