The Thane police on Wednesday claimed that fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim's lieutenant Chhota Shakeel was the mastermind behind the extortion racket involving Dawood's brother Iqbal Kaskar. Shakeel, who is currently believed to be in Pakistan, was on Wednesday named as a wanted accused in the extortion case.
According to the police, money generated through the extortion racket would be routed to Dubai on Shakeel's instructions.
According to the police, they have evidence of communication between Shakeel and the arrested accused, which pertains to the extortion racket. Shakeel would allegedly run the racket with the help of Kaskar and his two aides under the guise of a real estate business. They would target disputed properties and would extort money from their victims to "settle disputes".
"Shakeel plays a direct role in the racket — he would communicate directly with the accused to give them instructions. He would select victims and pass on the message to the accused to threaten them and extort money," said a police officer.
According to the remand application filed by the police in a court in Thane, "In some cases, Shakeel himself would call up the victims, demanding money."
On Wednesday, the court granted the police four more days custody of the arrested trio.
Kaskar and his two aides Israr Saiyyad and Mumtaj Shaikh were arrested on September 19. Later, the Thane police picked up 62-year-old Mohammad Ahmed Mansuri alias Ahmad Langda from Mumbai, claiming that he used to be part of the D-gang and was in touch with Shakeel via telephone. All communication regarding extortion would take place through Langda, the police alleged.
The police have also allegedly learnt that two sharpshooters from Bihar – identified as 'Guddu' and 'Shami' — would come to Thane to threaten victims. They two were in touch with Shakeel. The shooters would stay at Mumtaj's home in Mumbai. A police team has been dispatched to Bihar to nab them.
Borivli-based angadia (courier), Pankaj Gangar, has been identified as the man who provided money to the gang to buy firearms, police say.
Meanwhile, after registering a money laundering case against Kaskar and his two aides, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is now probing if the money generated through the extortion racket was used to fund televangelist Zakir Naik's banned NGO Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) through donations. The Directorate is likely to take custody of the accused from Thane police soon.
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