mumbai

Updated: Sep 21, 2017 10:22 IST

Iqbal Kaskar, brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who has been arrested in an extortion case by Thane police had been allegedly running an extortion racket targeting builders, businessman, jewellers from Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, for the past four years, revealed probe.

Sources in the Thane crime branch probing the case said Kaskar and his accomplices started targeting real estate projects in Thane and Navi Mumbai in 2013. The preliminary probe has also revealed that even jewellers and garment businessmen were not spared. So far, the investigators have found that they extorted money from 7-8 jewellers, builders and businessmen.

Sources said they have found out that the accused extorted Rs15 lakh from a jeweller in Thane and are verifying this information. “The problem is that many people who were targeted are reluctant to file an FIR,” said an official of the crime branch requesting anonymity.

The Mumbai link though is still not clear, the police are yet to builders and other businessmen who fallen prey to Kaskar and co.’s threats, sources said.

The probe is likely to widen as many informants and victims have given information which could lead to new cases being filed against Kaskar and the other accused. Commissioner of police (Thane) Parambir Singh said they would first verify the new information and there is a possibility that it may lead to more cases being filed against the accused.

The police have first studied the modus operandi and concluded that Kaskar never made a single call from his phone. It was his accomplices Mumtaz Ijaz Shaikh, 48, and Israr Ali Jamil Sayyed, 57, who used their phones to speak to the victims. Mumtaz would look for a disputed land and once he found one, he used to alert Israr, who is a friend of Kaskar’s. Israr would then contact the concerned builder or land owner and bring Kaskar to negotiate a deal, said an official of the Thane crime branch.

On the political front, the police are still probing links and are yet to summon any corporator in the case. A team of Thane anti-extortion cell, led by police inspector Pradeep Sharma, are currently focusing on the possibility of Dawood’s involvement, the money links and the calls made by the accused.