Dawood, Anees named key accused in extortion case

THANE: Fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his brother Anees have also been named as prime accused in an extortion case registered by a Mumbai-based builder against Iqbal Kaskar in Thane.While Iqbal has been arrested in the case (which TOI reported on Wednesday), as in two other cases - he was held in September from his Pakmodia Street residence for threatening a Thane builder for extortion and then booked in another extortion case registered by a Thane-based jeweller -Dawood and Anees have been named along with him as key accused for extorting Rs3 crore from the Mumbai-based builder in a land deal in Gorai, a police officer said. The identity of the complainant has been kept a secret by police.

Police said that the builder had approached a land owner in Gorai to purchase his 38-acre land in Gorai a couple of years ago. Accordingly, a Rs 35 crore deal was struck, and Rs 2 crore was paid as token amount. Later, the land owner started demanding double the amount saying the market rate had increased and so a third person was involved by the land-owner in the deal, who asked Iqbal to intervene, the officer said. Subsequently, Iqbal Kaskar issued threats to the builder in the name of Dawood and told him that he was now in the fray and that Dawood and he himself would buy the land.

Also, Iqbal told the builder that the token money of Rs 2 crore he had paid to the land owner had been given to him. Iqbal asked him to cough up another Rs1 crore, said the officer.

In July 2016, the builder was in a Thane court for the hearing of the civil suit pending due to this dispute. "The builder then got a call on his mobile from a private number. The caller identified himself as Anees Ibrahim and told him to forget the land he had purchased in Gorai as `Bhai' has purchased it. Issuing threats, he said if the builder did not abide by his or ders, he would be bumped off.The builder was also warned not to pursue the matter in court," a police officer said.

A police officer added that it is suspected that Dawood through his several aides was eyeing this land for the commercial development.

The officer added that some men close to the land owner had gone to meet a close aide of Dawood in Dubai, from where they spoke to Dawood. The police said they have sought passport details of the suspects and would probe their travel route.

Apart from the Kaskar siblings, the land owner as well as two other persons have been named in the FIR.

Meanwhile, police have taken Iqbal and his two aides into custody in the second extortion case registered by the jeweller. The three were produced in the court of chief judicial magistrate AV Chaudhary-Inamdar and remanded in police custody till October 10. Pradeep Sharma, the investigating officer, told court the police wanted custody of the trio in order to get back gold worth Rs15 lakh that they had extorted.