In a sensational turn of events, German Bakery blast accused Mohsin Chowdhary is alleged to have called a prominent city builder seeking extortion money of Rs10 crore.

The builder, who is considered to be close to Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, received as many as eight calls from Chowdhary who is also said to be the top operative of Indian Mujahideen and has been absconding for months.

While no one wants to come on record yet, a senior police officer confirmed that a formal complaint had been lodged by the builder. “His office received eight phone calls last week. The caller identified himself as Mohsin Chowdhary and sought Rs10 crore towards protection money from him. The caller was speaking in Hindi,” the officer said.

Scared, the builder then approached the police who scanned his call records and found that the complaint was genuine. “All the calls were made using voice over Internet protocol and it seems they have masked the servers,” the officer said.

“Chowdhary is one of the trusted lieutenants of Iqbal (Bhatkal) and is independent enough to head a sleeper cell,” the officer said. Incidentally, Mohsin’s brother Akbar has been arrested by the Mumbai crime branch and was thereafter taken into custody by the Gujarat police for his alleged role in the July 26, 2008, serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad.

A concerned home minister RR Patil held an urgent meeting with senior police officers at the Pune police commissioner’s office last week. Patil is said to have heard the phone conversations recorded by the builder, in the meeting that went on till late in the night.

When asked to comment, police commissioner Gulabrao Pol refused to confirm or deny.

A senior ATS told DNA on condition of anonymity, “The crime branch of the Pune police have sought help from us. We are providing them with all possible help.”Who is Mohsin Chowdhary?He is a resident of Manishanagar Complex in Kondhwa, Pune. Mohsin was last seen in the city in 2008. That was just before the Mumbai crime branch busted an IM module in Kondhwa. Chowdhary managed to escape then and had reportedly fled to Bangladesh.

The agencies and the police were left baffled when it was learnt that Chowdhary sneaked back into the country and executed a terror strike at German Bakery on February 13, 2010. A senior police officer said that Chaudhary is a close friend of Iqbal Bhatkal, who is the brother of Riyaz Bhatkal alias Roshan Khan.

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