The Mumbai police have arrested terrorist Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar’s nephew Rizwan Kaskar in connection with an extortion case, an official said on Thursday.
Rizwan Kaskar, son of Iqbal Kaskar, was arrested on Wednesday night from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here when he was trying to flee to Dubai, the official said.
Iqbal is lodged in a jail in Thane after he was arrested in an extortion case in 2017.
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Illegal activities
Investigations by the Anti Extortion Cell of the Mumbai police revealed that Rizwan has been involved in his uncle’s illegal activities for at least one-and-half year. Police officials see this as Dawood’s move to hand over the reins of his activities to younger family members.
According to Crime Branch officers, they initiated inquiries into the matter in June after the complainant, a Mumbai-based businessman, received calls from one Sheikh Mohammed Faheem alias Faheem Machmach, a close aide of Shakeel Babumiyaan Sheikh alias Chhota Shakeel. Shakeel is said to be Dawood’s right hand man and handled all his gang-related affairs.
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“The complainant was involved in a monetary dispute with another businessman, Ashfaq Towelwala (34), and Faheem told the complainant to forget the money that Mr. Towelwala owed him or face dire consequences. The complainant approached us and we registered an offence in the matter,” an AEC officer said.
The officer added that further inquiries led the investigating team to Ahmedraza Wadhariya, who allegedly got Faheem involved in the dispute. The AEC started tracking his movements and arrested him from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport after he landed in Mumbai from Dubai on Monday.
“Mr. Wadhariya’s interrogation revealed that he had been introduced to Faheem and Shakeel by Rizwan Kaskar, who keeps shuttling between Dubai and Mumbai. On Wednesday, we picked him up from the airport just before he was about to take a flight to Dubai with his wife. Mr. Towelwala, too, was arrested on Thursday,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Preventive) Datta Nalawade, who holds additional charge at Mumbai Crime Branch.
Investigating officers said the complainant is not the only person threatened by the D-gang, and that Rizwan seems to have been involved in his uncle’s activities for quite some time now.
“According to information obtained so far, Rizwan has threatened other businessmen also for at least one-and-half years. We are investigating into these so that we can register fresh offences against the accused,” an AEC officer said.