Police book Dawood aides for extortion
The Thane police have registered a case against gangster Chhota Shakeel, a key aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, and nine others, for allegedly extorting ₹15 crore to ₹20 crore from an Ambernath-based builder.
Police officials said the builder, Surojeet Manindra Roy, 52, a resident of Ambernath, said he came forward as he felt more secure following the arrest of Dawood’s brother Iqbal Kaskar last year.
A case was filed on Thursday evening, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act.
Pradeep Sharma, senior police inspector from the Thane anti-extortion cell, confirmed that a complaint was registered.
“We have booked 10 people, including Chhota Shakeel. Some of the accused, who work as Dawood’s aides, are Riyaz Bhati, Afghan Khan, Kamal Jadhvani, Zeenat Fawad Ahmed, his brother Khalid, and Usman Jaan Khan,” he said.
While Jadhvani is said to be funding Dawood’s aides, Afghan used to supply women for danc performances in Dubai.
In 2012, the accused asked Roy to hand over the plot co-owned by him. The plot measuring 4,500 sqft is near the Andheri Sports Complex. After Roy’s refusal, around 10 people stormed into his office in Ambernath.
“Roy was kidnapped and was taken to Andheri where he was asked to sign the plot paper at gun-point. Roy had bought the MHADA (Mahrashtra Housing and Development Authority) rights for development along with one of the accused Kamal Jadhavani,” Sharma said.
He said, “Jadhvani then tied up with other accused Bhati and Khan and started threatening Roy to hand over the land to them. He used to call up Chhota Shakeel though VOIP number and forced Roy to talk to him. The accused extorted ₹1 crore from him till date. They may face the stringent MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 ) charges.” In all there were three owners of the plot. Another accused, Riyaz Bhati, is co-owner of Kota Royal Box, an under arm cricket team. Usman is an approver in the 1993 bomb blasts case, Sharma added.
In his statement, Roy has alleged that he has been harassed by Dawood’s aides for the past eight years.
In 2003-04, Iqbal Attarwala, Ajay Ganda, Bacchi singh and Iqbal Jogeshwari were arrested by the Mumbai crime branch in connection with a land grab in Malad. They were booked under MCOCA.