History-sheeter Dawood aide held by Thane cops for extortion

An aide of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim arrested by Mumbai police earlier in an extortion case has been held by police in neighbouring Thane for allegedly threatening a builder to leave a housing society redevelopment project, an official said on Tuesday.

Riyaz Bhati was arrested by the Thane police's Anti- Extortion Cell on Saturday on a complaint filed by Ambernath- based builder Surajit Rayon, he said.

Rayon had complained against Bhati, 1993 serial blast approver Usman Khan, Afghan Babu Khan, Aslam Sheikh and Kamal Jadwani, the official said.

Rayon has told police that he inducted Jadwani as a partner after he won a contract to redevelop Andheri Stadium View Society from MHADA in 2012, the official said.

"Jadwani in turn made Bhati and Afghan Khan partners in the project. They then started pressuring Rayon to leave the project and promised to give him a flat and Rs 1 crore in cash. Rayon has claimed that Bhati and Afghan Khan usurped his Rs 4500 square feet project worth Rs 50 crore," the official said quoting the complaint.

The official said Rayon has alleged that the duo made him speak to fugitive gangster Chhota Shakeel when he was reluctant to toe their line.

"Rayon had filed a written complaint against Bhati, Usman Khan, Afghan Khan, Aslam Sheikh and Kamal Jadwani earlier but the FIR was lodged in 2018. We arrested Bhati after he failed to get relief from the sessions and High Court," Senior Inspector Rajkumar Kothimire of Thane AEC told PTI.

He said Jadwani had disassociated from the project earlier but the role of Usman, Afghan and Aslam Sheikh is under scanner.

Bhati, charged under sections 387 (extortion), 388 (extortion by threat of accusation) and 363 (kidnapping), has been remanded in police custody till October 19, Kothimire said.

Bhati was held by Juhu police in Mumbai last week in an extortion case filed by a Goregaon-based businessman.

In July the Mumbai police's Crime Branch had arrested him for allegedly forging a signature to become a member of the Mumbai Cricket Association.

He and his brother are accused in an extortion case filed in Amboli police station, apart from two firing cases in Khandala in 2007 and 2008.

Bhati is also accused of grabbing land in Malad in 2009 and a passport case in 2015, officials said.