Court grants bail to gangster Ejaz Lakdawala’s ‘aide’

A special MCOCA court has granted bail to Salim Maharaj, an alleged aide of gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, in a 2011 firing and extortion case registered by the Mumbai crime branch. The court noted that there was no material to show that Maharaj was connected to Lakdawala.

MUMBAI: A special MCOCA court has granted bail to Salim Maharaj, an alleged aide of gangster Ejaz Lakdawala, in a 2011 firing and extortion case registered by the Mumbai crime branch. The court noted that there were no direct threats or extortion by Maharaj, or any material to show that he was connected to Lakdawala.

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Maharaj was arrested in October 2020 based on an alleged confessional statement made by Lakdawala. As per the prosecution, Maharaj allegedly provided information to Lakdawala who then extorted ₹50 lakh. In his confession, Lakdawala said that he and Maharaj had been in touch since 2019 and he had given ₹25 lakh from the extortion money to Maharaj.

Advocate Wasim Prandarwala, representing Maharaj, argued that he was falsely implicated and there is no possibility of tampering with the investigation since it has been already completed. He said that the evidence is gathered and there are no criminal antecedents.

The court observed that Lakdawala and Maharaj were not in contact with each other when the crime took place in 2011 and none of the witnesses deposed a single word against Maharaj. It said that Lakdawala retracted his confession statement saying that the police officers had forced him to confess by detaining his daughter illegally.

“Connection of present applicant/accused with gangster accused Ejaz Lakdawala is only in the year 2019 and their connection with each other at the time of the offences or before that is not even remotely established,” observed special sessions judge Chakor S Baviskar, in an order passed on June 5. The court further said that there was nothing to connect Maharaj with the present offences, adding that it was not the complainant but Lakdawala who paid ₹25 lakh to Maharaj.