Underworld don Dawood's brother held for extortion, assault

Mumbai, Feb 4: Fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar and his associate were today arrested on charges of extortion and assault, police said.

Kaskar and his aide Shabbir Usman Shaikh were apprehended after being subjected to hours of grilling, said Anil Madvi, Senior Inspector at J J Marg Police Station. The duo would be produced before a court on Thursday, police said.

The action against the duo came on a complaint filed by a real estate agent, Mohammed Salim Shaikh. Kaskar, Shabbir and one more person were booked on charges of extortion and assault last night at Byculla Police Station.

The complainant first approached Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria, who directed his colleagues to look into the matter and take appropriate action. The complainant claimed Kaskar and his men thrashed him and demanded Rs three lakh from him last Friday.

The alleged incident had occurred in a room at Damarwala building in South Mumbai's Bhendi Bazar area, police said. The case was subsequently transferred to J J Marg Police Station under whose jurisdiction the incident had taken place. The trio were booked under IPC Sections 385 (putting a person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

The 48-year-old victim, a resident of Byculla, complained at the local police station, where the FIR was filed, and then the matter was transferred to J J Marg police.

Kaskar, Dawood's fifth sibling, had been deported to India from the United Arab Emirates in 2003. He was wanted in a murder offence and also for his alleged role in the Sara Sahara case, where a building came up illegally on government land. However, Kaskar was acquitted by court in both cases in 2007.

PTI