Dawood, brother Anees 'wanted' in Thane extortion case

Absconding mafia don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and his brother Anees have been named as 'wanted accused' in an extortion case filed against their younger sibling Iqbal Kaskar, who was arrested from his Mumbai home last month.

During the investigations into the ongoing extortion cases against Iqbal, the role and involvement of his two other brothers Dawood and Anees came to the fore and they have been accordingly booked, investigating officials said.

This is the first time ever that all the three Kaskar brothers - sons of a former Mumbai police official Shaikh Ibrahim Ali Kaskar - have been named as accused in any case simultaneously.

On Tuesday, Iqbal was slapped with a third case of extortion of Rs 3 crores from a builder in a deal involving a 38 acres land transaction in Gorai, a coastal village in south-west Thane.

Besides the Kaskar siblings, the role of Dawood's close associate Chhota Shakeel has also come to light and he has been made a 'wanted accused' in the case.

The Thane Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) nabbed Iqbal and his associates Israr Ali Sayyad and Mumtaz Ali Shaikh in an extortion case of Rs 30 lakhs and on charges of extorting four flats from a builder.

Subsequently, they were booked in another extortion complaint lodged by a prominent Thane jeweller, followed by a third complaint from a builder in the Gorai land deal case.

Last week, the AEC also nabbed Borivali-based bookie Pankaj Gangar in the same case after his role as a financer for the extortion rackets came to light.

Incidentally, Dawood - who is reportedly based in Karachi as per Iqbal's latest statement to the police - is wanted in a series of serious cases including the March 12, 1993 Mumbai serial blasts which claimed 257 lives.

Anees, his brother and close lieutenants are also wanted in several cases ranging from extortion, kidnapping, attempt to kill and murders, while Iqbal is booked in three different extortion cases.

Among the three other Kaskar brothers, the oldest, Shabbir, was shot dead in gangwar in 1981, Noora passed away in 2009 in Karachi while Humayun succumbed to cancer in Dubai last year.

Their only prominent sister Haseena Parkar, who was known as 'Godmother of Nagpada' and involved in some minor cases of intimidation, passed away after a brief illness in Mumbai in 2014.

An elder sister Saeeda passed away several years ago due to natural causes while another sister Farzana leads a low-profile life in Mumbai.

--IANS

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