Though Dawood was considered the don, it was Anees who engineered most of the network of contacts, particularly with militant outfits and other religious groups.It was not surprising that one of the Muslim leaders (Jamat-e-Islam Maulana Asad Madani) had brokered his release from Bahrain in 1997. He was arrested by local police after being tipped-off by gangster Ali Budesh.His Deoband (a religious sect) connections also proved useful for him to move freely in neighbouring countries like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, sources say.Anees and 28 others were arrested by the UAE police in connection with his former associate Infan Goga in 1997. Fugitive gangster Abu Salem was among the suspects released after investigations.Police sources in Mumbai see Anees as the main organiser of Dawood Ibrahim gang. He was the one who inducted men like Chhota Shakeel, Abu Salem, Kayum and even Chhota Rajan. Slain gangsters like Satish Raje and Sunil Sawant alias Sawtya were among his recruits.Anees’s key business interests are in cloth, construction and bullion also known as ‘rutering’ in underworld parlance. He had struck a deal with some Indian Gutkha manufactures to launch FIRE brand gutkha in Pakistan.The killing of his elder brother Shabbir Ibrahim Kaskar by the Pathan gang at a petrol pump at Prabhadevi pulled 25-year-old Anees into the crime world. Till then he was just a vagabond on Pakmodia Streets near JJ hospital.When Dawood, then 28, left India in 1984, Anees played an important role in expanding the D-gang.From small-time stealing, Dawood had taken over the smuggling empire of Haji Mastan. Initially, Anees took care of the smuggling of gold and its sale in local markets. He was known to operate from Arsa market at Andheri where he later met Abu Salem.Recently, Anees had been helping Aftab Bhatki in pumping counterfeit notes of Rs 500 into the country.
