In a high profile extortion racket, senior encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma arrested Iqbal Kaskar, brother of the infamous Don Dawood Ibrahim on September 18.
Caught unaware, Kaskar was seen watching Kaun Banega Crorepati and eating Biryani when the cops entered his late sister Haseena Parkar’s apartment, where Kaskar was stationed.
He was arrested along with two of his aides, Mumtaz Sheikh and Israr Ali Jamil Sayyad, who were earlier detained as suspects in the extortion racket.
The arrest was made after a complaint made by a builder named Mr Jain, who was intimidated by the Kaskar with Dawood Ibrahim’s name and was asked to give four flats along with Rs 30 lakh as ransom.
This entire extortion racket was being run by Dawood Ibrahim gang and we will investigate Dawood Ibrahim’s direct or indirect role in this case. If we find his involvement then we will make him an accused in this case and try to bring him however we can.Parambir Singh, Police Commissioner, Thane
Singh also claimed that their inquiry has revealed names of several politicians, some of which, he claimed are even ranked as corporators. The Thane Police division is also trying to explore the possibilities of invoking provisions for this case under MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act).
Kaskar has previously been deported from Dubai and brought for trial in the Sara Sahara case in 2003 for illegal construction on government land, but later he was acquitted of all charges.
One of his aides who were arrested has also been a drug addict, hence the police, as Singh claimed, will investigate if they were involved in a drug racket too. Other angles such as money laundering will be considered on further investigation as well.
Having narrowed down 10-20 cases of extortion in the racket, Thane Police Commissioner, Parambir Singh has also requested the victims to come forward and help the police, with a promise to keep their identity confidential.
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