Dawood’s ‘softy’ brother never went to Pak to join D-Company
DIFFERENT FROM PACK Police say Iqbal stayed away from gang’s activities in his formative years, was last of Kaskars to move to Dubai
the rescue efforts after Hussaini building collapsed in Mumbai’s Nagpada last month, Iqbal Kaskar, the most famous resident of the adjacent Dambarwala building, broke his silence to the media. However, in the face of the tragedy, reporters refrained from asking him the question they would have loved to: Where is Dawood Ibrahim?
Now Iqbal’s arrest by former encounter specialist and old crime branch hand Pradip Sharma in connection with an old extortion case has led to speculation that it is part of an on-going task the government of India is seriously pursuing: squeeze Dawood out of his hiding.
Little was known about Iqbal, the fifth of Dawood’s 11 siblings, before he was deported from the UAE in March 2003. Unlike his brothers Anees and Noora, Iqbal never went to Karachi to join Dawood’s global crime syndicate.
In fact, crime branch veterans tracking Dawood would talk of how Iqbal, the youngest of the Kaskar brothers, stayed away from the gang’s activities throughout his formative years. He was the last of the Kaskar clan to move to Dubai in the early 1990s. It is said the migration was triggered by the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, following which the police tightened the noose around Dawood’s men in Mumbai.
D Company sources revealed that Dawood ensured a livelihood for Iqbal by allotting him two shops in a mall in Dubai, where he sold electronic goods before UAE began flushing out D Company hands post 9/11 . Iqbal returned to Mumbai, little knowing what was in store for him.
Soon after his deportation, he was booked in two cases of murder and land-grabbing. He was acquitted in both the cases and went to live in the family’s fortress on Pakmodia street.
A former crime branch official who had interrogated Iqbal following his deportation said that he was a “softy” by underworld standards and his writ ran only because of his infamous surname. “Pehele pura murga kha raha tha, baad main vada pav pe aa gaya,” was how the official described the way Iqbal’s extortion business dwindled.
Iqbal found the going tough and faced repeated brushes with the law or came in the line of fire of Dawood’s rivals, Chhota Rajan in particular, whenever he tried to bite off more than he could chew. In 2011, Rajan’s men gunned down Iqbal’s driver.
Three years later, Iqbal made the rounds of Byculla police station after a developer slapped an extortion case against him. Iqbal loves gully cricket and his cronies, of late, consisted of a few soft-ball cricketers.
When a Thane police team carried out a raid at the residence of Iqbal Kaskar, the younger brother of Dawood Ibrahim, at Nagpada here last night, he was eating biryani and watching a reality TV show.
The unexpected presence of sleuths stunned Kaskar, as he asked them “Maine kya kiya hai?” (what have I done). However, the police team let him finish the meal before taking him into their custody in connection with an extortion case.
“It was around 9.15 pm when Thane Police’s Quick Response Team (QRT) raided the residence of Haseena Parkar (Dawood’s late sister) at Gordon Hall Apartments on Sophia Zuber Road in Nagpada in central Mumbai,” an official said.
“Iqbal Kaskar was having biryani and watching “Kaun Banega Crorepati” on television,” he added.
According to the officials, the sleuths gave him time to finish his dinner and then took him into the custody along with three others who were present inside the room. “Kaskar was taken into private vehicles, which swiftly left the area, before giving a chance to anyone to guess what has exactly happened,” the official said. PTI