Alleged D-Gang funder arrested

Mumbai: Thane police’s crime branch on Thursday arrested an alleged key funder of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s gang, who had been providing at least Rs 15 lakh a month for the gangland operations. Pankaj Gangar, who is a matka (gambling) operator, is stated to have invested in land parcels and construction projects outside Mumbai and in other states on behalf of the gang apart from funding for arms of the D-gang’s henchmen, which are now under the scanner of the Thane police as well as the Enforcement Directorate (ED).   

Two of the main hitmen have been identified as Shammi and Guddu who would come from Bihar to threaten victims and extort from them at the behest of Dawood’s brother Iqbal Kaskar and trusted lieutenant Chhota Shakeel, police sources said. “The money was provided in cash, which was collected by henchmen. Identities of these persons is being established in a bid to identify the further link in the case,” said a Thane crime branch officer.

As per preliminary probe, Gangar and his accomplices invested in real estate on behalf of Kaskar and Dawood’s gang. These are stated to be the benami properties that are now under the scanner of the ED. The ED registered a case on Wednesday against Kaskar, Asrarali Sayyad and Mumtaz Shaikh, who were arrested by Thane police in two separate extortion cases.

Apart from funding, the police has also learnt that Gangar would also threaten property developers in the Thane region and he had allegedly visited several construction sites to demand extortion amounts. “Our information is that chunk of the investment was made outside Mumbai and in other states on land parcels and in construction of residential complex in some cities. This needs to be investigated from Gangar and others,” said an officer from Thane crime branch.

Gangar has a criminal past and was last arrested by the Mumbai crime branch, officials said. He was the trusted aide of the then matka kingpin Pappu Savla. Officials said Gangar was still running matka dens and was funding the gang out of the profits from illegal gambling.

In 2007, Gangar was arrested along with another gangster Arun Gawli in the case related to the murder of Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar. He had turned an approver then.