Chhota Shakeel booked as co-accused in one more extortion case

Mumbai: The Thane police has named Chhota Shakeel, fugitive close aide of wanted gangster Dawood Ibrahim, in the second case of extortion registered against Dawood’s brother Iqbal Kaskar and his two supporters.  

Shakeel had been receiving nearly Rs 15 lakh per month for gangland operations from another accused, Pankaj Gangar, a matka operator, according to the police. Shakeel and Gangar are now co-accused in two of the three extortion cases registered by police against Kaskar and his helpers.

The men who used to collect cash are yet to be tracked down and several hawala operators have already been questioned with more under the scanner.

Abhishek Trimukhe, deputy commissioner of police, Thane crime branch, said, “MCOCA has been invoked in the first case in which Shakeel’s role has also been established subsequently. Money was being sent to Shakeel from here.”

Gangar, who has a notorious past, allegedly invested in properties on behalf of the d-gang, with investments said to be outside Mumbai (Thane region) and other states. The police said that apart from funding, Gangar also threatened property developers in Thane and allegedly visited several construction sites to extort money.

The Thane police and Enforcement Directorate (ED) are probing into the benami properties of the gang. Gangar was in contact with Shakeel and the police is probing if he made any foreign trips.

A Thane police officer requesting anonymity said, "We suspect that there may be a string of benami properties systematically bought by people like Gangar and others on behalf of Kaskar and Shakeel.”

The police said that in all, nine charge-sheets had been filed against Shakeel in the past decade, the latest being in 2016. Gangar was trusted aide of the then matka kingpin Pappu Savla. Gangar still ran matka dens and funded the gang out of profits from illegal gambling.