Dawood aide arrested in Mumbai for threatening hotelier

A man allegedly belonging to fugitive Dawood Ibrahim's gang was today arrested with police stating that he had threatened a hotelier under instructions from his accomplices in Pakistan.

Ramdas Rahane (41), was nabbed by a team of the Mumbai police's Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) when he was planning to attack the hotelier after having received money from Pakistan to do so, a senior police official said today.

"We have arrested Ramdas Rahane, an important member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang, who was threatening and trying to extort money from a hotelier," said Dilip Sawant, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime).

Sawant said that the hotelier, in his complaint, had stated that he was receiving threat calls from Pakistan.

"The callers were demanding Rs 50 lakh and had also told the hotelier to pay Rs 5 lakh immediately to Rahane. Rahane also made calls to the hotelier threatening him," Sawant told reporters.

Acting on a tip-off, an AEC team nabbed Rahane today just as he was about to attack the hotelier, he informed.

He said that Rahane's house in Sangamner in Ahmednagar district was raided, following his arrest, and a pistol and two rounds of ammunition were seized.

Rahane has over 11 serious cases against his name in Mumbai and Gujarat and had also been arrested earlier by the Crime Branch, DCP Sawant said.

He played a major role in the firing at the office of a builder, Manish Dholakia, in Churchgate in February, 2011, the official said.

In March 2017, Rahane was arrested with six others for the contract killing of a Jamnagar-based businessman on the instructions of Anees Ibrahim, Dawood's brother, for Rs 10 lakh, he said.

Sawant informed that Rahane was produced before court which remanded him in police custody till June 30.