Police nabs Dawood aide

MUMBAI: The Thane’s anti-extortion cell (AEC) on Friday arrested fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s alleged aide Tariq Abdulkarim Parveen for his suspected role in a 1998 double murder case pertaining to the brother of a cable operator and the latter’s business partner.

The 51-year-old accused, who was deported to India in 2004 from Dubai, was arrested from south Mumbai.

Sources said that Parveen has been named as a conspirator in the crime and was booked under section 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code  (IPC) related to criminal conspiracy.

Police sources said that acting on a tip-off, Parveen was arrested from Ashoka Shopping Centre at LT Road near Crawford Market on Friday. The arrest was made in connection to the murder of a Mumbra-based cable operator Mohammed Siddiqui Bangdiwala’s brother Mohammad Ibrahim (38) and his business partner Parvez Ansari (41).  A gang of seven persons in Mumbra’s Kismat Nagar area shot down the duo and investigations subsequently revealed that Parveen was a conspirator in the case.

Confirming Parveen’s arrest, senior police inspector Pradeep Sharma, who heads the AEC, said that the Mumbra police had earlier arrested five accused in the case. “The accused is suspected of having been close to Dawood.” Mr Sharma said.  

A police source said that the double murder was committed after fallout over a rivalry in the cable business. An offence was registered at Mumbra police station in 1998. Parveen has been booked under section 120(b) of the IPC, which pertains to punishment of criminal conspiracy.

Rebutting the police’s allegations against Parveen, his advocate B.B. Tiwari said, “The police does not have any evidence on Tariq’s involvement in the case. He is simply named in this case for being allegedly a part of the conspiracy.”

Mr Tiwari added, “The high court had already acquitted four accused in the case who were earlier arrested.”