A day after the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) arrested underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s younger brother Iqbal Kaskar and two others on extortion charges, all the three were produced before a Thane court which remanded them in police custody for eight days.
Acting on a complaint that Kaskar and his accomplices, Mumtaz Shaikh and Israr Ali Jamil Sayyed, had allegedly extorted four flats and Rs 30 lakh cash from one builder Jain in 2016, an AEC team — headed by encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma — arrested Kaskar from the Nagpada residence Dawood’s sister late Haseena Parkar in south Mumbai on Monday night.
Iqbal Hassan Ibrahim Kaskar alias Arabsaab, better known as Iqbal Kaskar, who was deported from Dubai on February 19, 2003, is suspected to have handed threats and extorted money and properties “10, 20 or even more persons”.
Ahead of Kaskar’s arrest in Mumbai, the Thane police had arrested Mumtaz and Israr from Thane and registered a case of extortion case under Sections 384, 386, 387 r/w 34 of the IPC against all three of them with Thane’s Kaskarwadwli police station.
Iqbal Ismail Parkar, brother-in-law of Haseena Parkar, suspected drug dealer Yasin Khwaja Hussain Shaikh and Fernandes, who were present at late Haseena’s residence, were also detained for questioning.
Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, Thane Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh said, “Based on a complaint from one builder Jain who was receiving extortion threats since 2013, we have arrested Kaskar. In 2016, Kaskar and his accomplices had extorted four flats and Rs 30 lakh from builder Jain. Of the extorted flats, three had been disposed and in one of the remaining flats, one of Kaskar’s accomplices is currently living. We have concrete proof against Kaskar and his accomplices”.
The four flats that Kaskar and his men had extorted from Jain were worth Rs 5 crore each.
“Names of two or three politicians have cropped up in the case. They could be of the rank of corporators or may be even higher. They are all local politicians. They were helping Kaskar and his men. Some builders are also suspected to be involved with this gang. These are all a subject of investigations,” the Thane CP said.
Informed police sources, meanwhile, said that among the politicians whose names had cropped during the investigations were two corporators from the NCP.
Replying to a question, Singh said, “ In this case, we are examining if we can invoke the provisions of MCOCA against Kaskar and his associates.... The role of most-wanted gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s role — whether direct or indirect — will definitely be examined in the case. As I said, the Dawood gang’s name was definitely used in the extortion racket. We will examine all technical evidence, including call data to probe Dawood’s role in the case.”
According to Singh, the modus operandi adopted by the Kaskar and his accomplices was to hand out threats to victims, identify the victims and their properties and call up sharp shooters to undertake elimination jobs. “We have received the names of 10 to 20 persons whom Kaskar and his accomplices have extorted. Since one victim has come forward to give evidence against Kaskar, we request other victims to lodge with the crime branch police at Thane police, Navi Mumbai and in Mumbai so that we can investigate all the cases.”
“The names of one or two builders were repeatedly mentioned by the accused during the questioning. Through these builders, Kaskar had threatened a builder from Vashi, who is currently frightened to the hilt. The builder concerned had fled home in fear. They had also handed out extortion threat to one leading builder from Thane. A few builders and a jeweller from Mumbai were also victims of Kaskar,” the CP said.
Singh said that the investigators were also looking into the money laundering angle in the case. “If need be, we will seek the assistance of Enforcement Directorate (ED) in this case,” he said.
Kaskar was earlier involved in several extortion cases, including Sara-Sahara twin shopping complex case.
However, much to the embarrassment of the Mumbai, Kaskar was on June 13, 2007 acquitted by a Special MCOCA for “lack of evidence” against him.
Kaskar used to help his elder sister Haseena Parkar, who also faced an extortion case. Haseena (55) died of a heart attack in July 2014.