City bizman gets threat calls from Pakistan demanding $800M

Police said he was threatened to be shot in the same fashion as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique if he did not make payments to an Iranian company

MUMBAI: A 51-year-old Nepean Sea Road resident, who is in the chemical and petrochemical imports business, has complained about unknown people after he received continuous threat calls from an international number with Pakistan’s country code. Police said he was threatened to be shot in the same fashion as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Baba Siddique if he did not make payments to an Iranian company.

City bizman gets threat calls from Pakistan demanding $800M

The complainant’s company has offices in Fort and Dubai. The company imports petrochemicals from the Middle-East, Europe, and America. In 2014-2015, the company imported several chemical and petrochemical consignments from an Iranian company and, as the USA had imposed sanctions on Iran, their payout was made in Dubai. This was done allegedly as per the Iranian company’s instructions.

However, in 2018, the Iranian company approached courts in Iran claiming it did not receive payments for some consignments. As the complainant’s case was not a party in the litigation, the Iranian company won the case and approached the Bombay High Court with the Iranian court’s judgement. Their interim to seize the complainant’s property was rejected by the high court and the petition is pending.

“The complainant said he began getting calls, allegedly from Chhota Shakeel’s office, from June this year onwards asking him to pay $l20 million due to the Iranian company,” said a police officer. In the next few calls, they threatened him and increased the amount to $800 million for settlement. Using the international number, the accused sent a photo of the complainant’s office to him and asked him if he wanted to become a Baba Siddique, who was shot dead in Bandra East last year.

“Threat calls and text messages were also sent to the complainant’s family members, staff, and senior officers,” the officer said.

The Mumbai Crime branch at the MRA Marg police station have registered a complaint under Section 308 (extortion) against unknown people and is under investigation.