Iqbal Kaskar held in second extortion case by police

Mumbai: A day after fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar and two of his aides, Asrar Sayyad (52) and Mumtaz Shaikh (48), were arrested in an alleged extortion case by the Thane crime branch, a second extortion case was registered against them on Wednesday, following a complaint by a local jeweller. The jeweller had allegedly handed over jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh to the accused in 2015-16 following threats, according to the police.

The crime branch had first nabbed Sayyad and Shaikh as part of its probe into the first extortion case that featured a builder as the complainant. After they allegedly revealed Kaskar’s, name, the latter was arrested on Monday.

On Wednesday, a Thane based jeweller approached the crime branch with a complaint that Shaikh had pressured him on behalf of Kaskar in 2015.

Shaikh had learnt that the jeweller was trying to sell off a land parcel in Thane.

“Shaikh informed Sayyad and Kaskar about it and began threatening the owner. When the jeweller learnt that they were connected to Dawood, he refused to go ahead with the deal,” said a Thane crime branch officer.

The accused then went to his jewellery shop and allegedly extorted ornaments worth Rs 15 lakh from him. The alleged extortion happened in the intervening period of 2015 and 2016, police said. The complainant came forward after learning of Kaskar’s arrest by the Thane police. The crime branch officials are now recording the jeweller’s statement and will begin the process of registering a case.

“The case is being registered against all the three arrested accused based on the complaint, as per same section like the first case. The incident and each person’s role in it will be further looked into,” said Abhishek Trimukhe, deputy commissioner of police, Thane crime branch.