The Central Bureau of Investigation has sent judicial requests to Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, seeking information on a case against wanted underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and his associates for alleged smuggling of machinery to set up a gutka factory in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
The CBI had taken over the case against Dawood’s brother Anees Ibrahim, Jamiruddin Ansari, Mohammad Farooq Mansurian and Rajesh Panchariya in 2005. The first charge sheet was filed the same year.
The agency filed a supplementary one before a Mumbai (MCOCA) court in the same case last week, this time naming Dawood, his brother-in-law Abdul Hamid Antulay, Saleem Mohammad Ghaus Sheikh and gutka businessmen J.M. Joshi and R.M. Dhariwal.
The case pertains to alleged illegal export of five machines used in gutka packing via Dubai to Pakistan, obtained through extortion. According to the agency, the machines were manufactured by accused Rajesh Panchariya. In July 2004, the accused persons again delivered spare parts of gutka filling and pouch packing machines to Anees Ibrahim in Pakistan.
The Mumbai police first registered the case on a complaint from one Mustafa Kabira alleging that between February and May 2002, he was approached to purchase gutka pouch packing machines worth Rs.2.16 lakh from Rajesh Panchariya for supply to Anees Ibrahim in Karachi.
Accused Jamiruddin and Panchariya purportedly told the interrogators that the two accused businessmen had sought the help of Anees Ibrahim, who is allegedly wanted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, in settling a financial dispute. “Dhariwal had allegedly refused to pay 20 per cent profit share to Joshi,” said an official. The CBI said Mr. Dhariwal supplied gutka in Dubai through a front company of Dawood.
