The Mumbai Crime Branch has invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against arrested gangster Ejaz Lakdawala and his associate Salim Penwala alias Dadhi in connection with an extortion case filed by a real estate developer from Byculla. Both the accused were produced before the Special MCOCA court and have been remanded in police custody till February 15.

In January, the Crime Branch had arrested Mr. Lakdawala from Patna on charges of extortion and threatening a developer from Bandra. He was arrested after his daughter Sonia and elder brother Aquil were arrested in the case. There are 31 cases of extortion against Mr. Lakdawala and 80 written complaints have been lodged against him.

While producing Mr. Lakdawala before the MCOCA court, the Crime Branch said his custody was needed to find out the trail of money which he had received through the extortion racket, and where he had parked the money. The agency also said it wanted to know the means of communication Mr. Lakdawala used to engineer his extortion racket. The officers said his custody was necessary to gather technical evidence.

Mr. Lakdawala’s lawyer, Devanand Manerkar, opposed the custody claiming that the agency had taken the custody from the lower court on the same grounds. The court after hearing both parties remanded Mr. Lakdawala and his associate in the custody of the Crime Branch.