Thane police arrest Dawood Ibrahim aide Tariq Parveen from Mumbai

Parveen was arrested by anti-extortion cell chief Inspector Pradeep Sharma. “We had information that Parveen was hiding in the Ashoka Shopping Centre near GT Hospital in Mumbai. Acting on the tip-off, we raided the spot and arrested Parveen,” Sharma said. He added, “The accused has been handed over to the Mumbra police for further investigation.” Several cases are lodged against Parveen, who is believed to be a close aide of both mafias Dawood Ibrahim and Chotta Shakeel, sources said.

“He is one of the main accused in the Sara Sahara case and has several other complaints lodged against him,” said an officer from the Thane police. Parveen was convicted in the Sara Sahara case by a Mumbai sessions court, his appeal against conviction is now pending before the Bombay High Court.

However, the Thane police seemed to have committed a faux pas. Their claim that Parveen was ‘absconding’ since 1998 was dispelled by the Mumbai police joint commissioner (crime) Sanjay Saxena through a social media post. “Parveen was not wanted since we deported him in 2004. We presented him before the court and even got convicted in one case. He has challenged the case in High court and is thus currently out on bail. He cannot be called absconding,” Saxena said. However, he declined to raise the issue with the Thane police.

The senior officers of Thane police admitted that it was the error of the probe officer. “The investigating officer of the case should have checked in the year he was deported in 2004. But since he did not, he was still on our list of wanted accused,” said an officer. This is not the first time the two neighboring police seem to be at loggerheads over the arrest of a Dawood aide. The Mumbai and Thane police had a dispute over the arrest of Dawood’s younger brother Iqbal Kaskar, following which top government officials had to intervene to placate the matter, sources said.