Extortion probe: Iqbal Kaskar, three others sent to police custody till November 4

Apart from Iqbal Kaskar, those remanded in police custody include Israel Sayyad, Mumtaz Shaikh and Pankaj Gangar, an alleged financier.

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Iqbal Kaskar being taken into custody. (Source: Express Photo)

IQBAL KASKAR, brother of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, along with three of his aides, was remanded in the custody of Thane police till November 4 by a special MCOCA court in Thane on Wednesday. While the police had the custody of the accused, they sought their custody again after the accused were booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) under which police custody can be sought again. Apart from Kaskar, those remanded in police custody include Israel Sayyad, Mumtaz Shaikh and Pankaj Gangar, an alleged financier.

Arguing for the police custody of the four accused before MCOCA Judge A S Bhaisare, prosecutor Sangeeta Phad said the accused were part of the organised gang run by Dawood Ibrahim. Investigating officer, ACP N T Kadam told the court that the accused were in touch with gang members based in several countries. He added that Dawood had his men in Pakistan, Dubai, South Africa, China and Bangkok and the police needed custody of the accused to get information about the internationally-spread network.

Kadam also told the court that the accused had been using video calling mobile applications with which they were in touch with the other wanted accused based abroad. The police argued that they were looking for some of the wanted accused in the matter.

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Defence lawyer Shyam Keswani argued that right from the first remand, the police had been seeking remand on the same points. He said the police conveniently named Dawood Ibrahim as an accused in most cases adding that the police had made Shakeel Shaikh, alias Chhota Shakeel, an accused in the case just so that MCOCA could be applied against the accused, as Shakeel had several cases registered against him.

Lawyer for Pankaj Gangar, former matka king arrested for allegedly financing the accused, said Gangar was neither there at the time of the conspiracy nor did he speak to the accused. The prosecutor, however, said they had evidence that Gangar was in touch with some of the accused persons in Dubai.

After hearing both sides, the MCOCA judge remanded the four accused in police custody till November 4.

The Thane police had arrested the fourth accused, Gangar, for allegedly extorting money from the developer of a disputed property and taking four flats and Rs 30 lakh from him forcibly. Two more complainants later approached the police following which, two more FIRs were registered against the accused.

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