₹2-cr extortion case: Dawood aide to be in cop custody till February 13

The Esplanade court on Monday remanded Tariq Parveen – the alleged aide of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim – in police custody till Thursday in a ₹2-crore

The Esplanade court on Monday remanded Tariq Parveen – the alleged aide of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim – in police custody till Thursday in a ₹2-crore extortion case. Parveen was arrested from south Mumbai on Sunday.

HT Image

According to the police, in 2013, Parveen and another accused in the case, Salim Penwala alias Salim Maharaj, threatened a dry fruit businessman at the behest of gangster Ejaz Lakdawala to pay ₹2 crore . Penwala and Lakdawala are already in police custody till February 15 for their alleged role in another extortion case.

The businessman then met Parveen at his office in south Mumbai, where the accused had also called Penwala. Parveen then “negotiated” the extortion amount, following which it was brought down to ₹10 lakh. He then sent his associate, who the police did not name, to the businessman’s shop and collected ₹3 lakh. The businessman said he would pay the pending ₹7 lakh in some days.

However, Parveen’s lawyer Qureshi Aftab argued before the court that the crime branch fabricated the story and questioned the police on why Parveen was not arrested earlier. “Why did they [crime branch] wait for seven years? Why did the crime branch not question Parveen or sent him summons to probe the incident despite knowing Parveen’s office address? The agency made a false case against my client,” he said in the court.

The police however, said the case was registered this year only because the complainant returned to Mumbai and approached the police after Lakdawala was arrested on January 8 from Bihar.

“We have found Parveen’s role in the case and also have established that Penwala had repeatedly harassed the businessman for the money,” the officer said.

Was deported from Dubai in 2004

The police said Tariq Parveen, who runs a construction business, and is purportedly an aide of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, was deported from Dubai in 2004 for his role in multiple criminal cases

After being out on bail, in February 2015, Mumbai crime branch again arrested Parveen for allegedly demanding ₹3 crore from a Juhu-based builder

In 2018, the Thane anti-extortion cell (AEC) had arrested him in connection with a 20-year-old murder case of a cable operator, Mohammad Ibrahim Bangdiwala.