ED books Iqbal Kaskar to probe his money laundering activities
The Thane police have found suspicious bank transactions made by Iqbal and his aides and the ED will look into them.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against Iqbal Kaskar, brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, to investigate his alleged money laundering and hawala activities. Iqbal is in the custody of Thane police for an extortion case filed by a builder.
A senior official of the ED confirmed the development.
“The Thane police registered an FIR against Iqbal after a builder complained he was extorting money from him. During investigations, it came to the fore he could have undertaken activities such as money laundering and hawala. Based on the FIR and the consequent leads that have come to fore, an ECIR has been registered and further probe is on,” he said.
The Thane police have found suspicious bank transactions made by Iqbal and his aides and the ED will look into them.
The Thane police have also found Iqbal ’s Gmail account and some evidence of the D Gang’s money trail. This may be crucial in the coming days for the ED probe.
Iqbal was along with Mumtaz Ijaz Shaikh and Israr Ali Jamil Sayyed based on a complaint registered by a Thane-based builder.
Iqbal had allegedly usurped four houses from the builder and had been demanding more. “The builder had approached Iqbal in the past to settle a dispute pertaining to a plot and the gangster had demanded four houses in return for the settlement. When Iqbal pushed for one more property, after which the builder approached us,” said a police officer investigating the case.
According to Thane police officials, the issue started in 2013 when the builder bought a plot of land in Waghbill Naka on Ghodbunder Road in Thane from a villager to develop apartments. In 2015, the villager who had sold the land to the builder died, and the villager’s daughter approached the builder to demand a share. The daughter, who did not get her share, was approached by 48-year-old Mumtaz, a real estate broker, who through 57-year-old Israr contacted Iqbal.
The police said Iqbal called up the builder and said the plot where the builder had started construction belonged to him as he had bought the plot from the villager’s daughter. The builder questioned Iqbal about his identity and got scared when he learnt that Iqbal was Dawood’s brother.
In 2016, Iqbal told him to settle the issue and asked the builder to give him Rs30 lakh and four flats, said a crime branch officer. “Israr accepted the money on behalf of Iqbal and out of the four flats, two were sold, one was given on rent and Mumtaz stayed in the fourth flat,” said the officer. “We are interrogating the accused and more arrests are likely in the case.”
Meanwhile, the questioning of key Chhota Shakeel aide Mohammad Ahmad Yaseen Mansoor alias Ahmed Langda by the Thane crime branch continued.
A top source in the Thane police revealed the anti-extortion cell, which picked up Mohammad from Teli Mohalla in JJ Area, on Monday night to question the whereabouts of an accused in the case who is on the run, subjected him to prolonged questioning.
In the backdrop of information that Iqbal would use mobile phones of his acquaintances to make ransom calls and speak to his family members in Karachi and Dubai to dodge surveillance, the police have confiscated Mohammad’s cell phone. “The call records in Mohammad’s phone would be analysed and he will be asked about them,” sources said.
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Iqbal Kaskar arrested: Cops question key aide of Chhota Shakeel