Mumbai: Amid complaints of extortion against Iqbal Kaskar, who is the brother of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, the police took his custody from the Thane Central prison in a case registered on a complaint by a jeweller who coughed up valuables worth Rs 15 lakh to Kaskar. The police produced Kaskar, Asrarali Sayyad and Mumtaz Shaikh before the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) on a transfer warrant on Wednesday and they were remanded to police custody till October 10. The police have registered three cases against Kaskar and his two aides, including the case in which the jeweller is a complainant.
While the defence lawyer Vishal Ingavle claimed that the anti-extortion cell of Thane crime branch was dragging the investigation, the police said that there were several aspects of the gang activities that needed thorough probe.
The crime branch stated that they wanted the custody of the trio as the extorted jewellery was yet to be recovered. Also that the hit men arranged from Bihar, identified as Guddu and Shammi, and source
of the arms they used to threaten some of the developers and also to alleged fire rounds at the site were yet to be established.
Police sought for custody to seek details of links between Kaskar and the jeweller to find out why was he and nobody else was targeted.
The theories were however countered by Ingavle, who said to the CJM, “This was the precise theory and details that were put up before the court while seeking the custody in first case (involving a property developer in Thane from whom four flats and Rs 30 lakh was extorted). We ourselves had stated then that we would not oppose a few days’ custody to probe these things. However, even today they are seeking custody on same grounds.”
