Police have registered a criminal case against gangster Chhota Shakeel's aide, Riyaz Bhati, for allegedly threatening a key witness in an extortion case against him. Interestingly, the complainant witness has alleged in his police complaint that the accused called him and threatened him over a phone call while he was in jail. Bhati's son and a friend are also booked in the case. The complainant, a 43-year-old businessman who lives in Khar, has a plastic manufacturing company. One of the complainant's friends in 2021 had filed a case against Bhati at Versova police station. As per the complaint Bhati introduced his wife as his friend to the complainant's friend. Bhati later also allegedly threatened his own wife and compelled her into a sexual relationship with the complainant and his friend, and even lured her with money to do so. Later, Bhati allegedly extorted money from the complainant and his friend over sexual relations with his wife. Besides this, Bhati is also facing an extortion case under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) of Mumbai crime branch, in which Chhota Shakeel's brother-in-law Salim Fruit is also an accused person, along with five others. All of them, including Bhati, are in judicial custody in the said case. The Khar businessman's FIR states that an acquaintance Rajesh Bajaj, who he has known for 10 years, has threatened him, asking him to give a statement in court in Bhati's favour in the Versova police case. In July 2022, Bajaj also took the complainant to a place near Versova police station, where Bhati met him and threatened him with dire consequences if he did not give a statement in court in his favour. However, the complainant ignored it, the police said. In August 2023, Bajaj again threatened the complainant and told him not to mess with the Chhota Shakeel gang, as they would kill him. He also told him that Bhati's son, Amad, would call him. At 11.30 am on November 4, when the complainant was to appear in court in the Versova police case, , the complainant received a call from none other than Bhati, the FIR states, who told him to tell others that none of them should give a complaint against him, including his own wife. The complainant was shocked that Bhati could call him from jail. He put his phone on speaker mode and told his friend to record his conversation with Bhati, a police officer said. He then filed a complaint at Khar police station against Bhati, his son Amad, and Bajaj. The police said they have booked the three accused under sections 195A (threatening any person to give false evidence), 506-2 (death threats), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and have also made Bhati's wife as witness in the case. The police may soon question Amad and Bajaj in the case. Police are probing Bhati's call wherein he threatened the complainant and whether he was jail or out for a court hearing when he placed the call, another officer said.
