Chhota Shakeel operating his separate gang: Police

Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai police has claimed that fugitive gangster Shakeel Babu Mohiddin Shaikh aka Chhota Shakeel, associated with Dawood Ibrahim, has been running a separate gang along with a few of his close associates including, Riyaz Bhati and his brother-in-law Salim Qureshi aka Fruit

Mumbai: Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai police has claimed that fugitive gangster Shakeel Babu Mohiddin Shaikh aka Chhota Shakeel, associated with Dawood Ibrahim, has been running a separate gang along with a few of his close associates including, Riyaz Bhati and his brother-in-law Salim Qureshi aka Fruit.

Chhota Shakeel

The AEC had recently filed a charge-sheet against Fruit, Bhati and five others in connection with an extortion case registered by a city-based businessman with the Versova police. The 1,000-page chargesheet included statements of around 25 witnesses and other evidence against the accused persons. The agency claimed that Chhota Shakeel has been operating a separate gang since 1999.

The businessman had approached the Versova police in September last year, alleging that Fruit and Bhati had extorted a sum of ₹7.5 lakh and also forcibly taken away his Range Rover worth around ₹30 lakh. The case was registered with the Versova police and then transferred to the AEC.

Apart from Bhati, and Fruit, AEC has also named Ajay Gosaliya, Firoz Shaikh, Sameer Khan, Amjad Redkar, Javed Khan alias Papa Pathan as accused in the case. In its chargesheet, the AEC claimed the probe revealed that the seven are active members of Shakeel’s gang.

Mumbai police has claimed that probe has revealed that Shakeel’s own gang has been in operation since the year 1999 and that several new as well as old members are a part of it. It is further claimed that the seven booked in the case are old members of the Dawood gang and have worked together for many years.

The AEC has claimed that the seven are active members and have been threatening people to terrorise them and extract financial benefit for both themselves and the gang.

In the case, the businessman had good relations with Bhati and hence, was invited to his birthday celebration at a five-star hotel in Andheri. It was at this party that he was introduced to Fruit.

It was alleged that the complainant started playing cards with the accused and won around ₹ 62 lakh in the game. However, on certain occasions, Fruit won the games and started demanding money. The complainant claimed that the accused started threatening him for money showing his connection with Shakeel.

The complainant has alleged that Fruit forcibly took his Range Rover car and further demanded ₹ 32 lakhs.

When Fruit came under the radar of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Fruit had asked the complainant to urgently deposit ₹6 lakhs to ₹11 lakhs in some other account. Owing to continuous demands and threats, the complainant had deposited ₹7.5 to the account of a close associate of Fruit.

In the meantime, Fruit was being questioned by the ED and also by the NIA. Bhati is alleged to have threatened the complainant and told him not to mention about any transactions with Fruit to the agencies. Hence, the businessman finally lodged a case with police.