The anti-extortion cell of the Mumbai police has arrested a close aide of gangster Chhota Shakeel in connection with the murder attempt on the fugitive’s former aide Iqbal Attarwala.
The anti-extortion cell of the Mumbai police has arrested a close aide of gangster Chhota Shakeel in connection with the murder attempt on the fugitive’s former aide Iqbal Attarwala. This is the fourth arrest in the case after the police had in April arrested three of the gangster’s aides, incidentally on Shakeel’s birthday.
The recent arrest is that of Sayyad Rafiq alias Rafiq CD (48) who is allegedly one of Shakeel’s henchmen. Rafiq is a resident of Mira Road where he runs a CD store and garment shop with his brother Anwar, who is also said to be Shakeel’s aide.
“After we foiled the attempt of the earlier three arrested, Rafiq managed to escape. He went underground for weeks, which was his modus whenever the police arrested any aide of Shakeel. He provided support and logistical help in the case,” said a crime branch officer.
The officials had on April 21, acting on a tip, arrested Raju Pillai alias Joseph, 42, Sanjay Gurav alias Bhola, 28 and Naeem Khan, 40 — all Shakeel aides. The crime branch officials allegedly had received a tip that Shakeel had ordered the killing of a businessman.
“When we arrested these three, we realised that the businessman was in fact Attarwala, a former aide of the gangster. He is a real estate developer and was once very close to Shakeel,” said an officer. While the police was not clear about the motive, they suspect that Attarwala had caused a deal to go wrong. The police had seized two 7.65 mm pistols, 12 live rounds, five loaded magazines and six mobile phones and even two surgical knives that was going to be used to execute Attarwala.
