Custody of 5 extended for extortion

Mumbai: A special MCOCA court on Wednesday extended the police custody of five persons arrested in connection with an extortion case. Two of the five accused are the same who were arrested in connection with the recovery of huge cache of arms and ammunition in a Mumbai bound SUV on Mumbai-Agra highway on December 15. The seized arms and ammunition were looted from an arms showroom in UP.

Wajid Ali Shah (28) and Aamir Shaikh alias Langda (25) were in judicial custody after their arrest in connection with the recovery of 44 firearms and 4,140 live cartridges. The Crime Branch took them into custody after their names cropped up in an extortion case from a shopkeeper in Vadala. Earlier the court had arrested Akbar Badshah (53), Aslam Qureshi alias Bada Salman (26) and Sanjay Salunkhe (22) in connection with the extortion case.

The cache seized from the SUV included 17 revolvers, two pistols, one pump action shotgun, eight 12-bore double barrel rifles, two 12-bore single barrel rifles, ten .22 bore rifles and 4,140 live cartridges. All these were looted from a gun shop in UP and were being smuggled into Mumbai.

According to police, prime accused Sukha Akbar Pasha (27) is the leader of these accused, who are members of an organised crime syndicate. Pasha was arrested when he was allegedly trying to smuggle the arms and ammunition in Mumbai. Sukha is in Nashik jail and the police is expected to take his custody in the extortion case.

Advocate Yusuf Khan and M. Qais on behalf of Badshah and Salunkhe and Ashok Jaiswar for Qureshi opposed sending the accused to police custody. According to the advocate, Khan Badshah is implicated in a false case because he is the father of Sukha and other accused are also innocent but are arrested in the false case to fit other accused under MCOC Act.

The special MCOCA court judge S.M. Bhosle remanded all the five accused to police custody till January 15.