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Dawood-gang member held for aiding Ejaz Lakdawala in ₹2-crore extortion case
A holiday court remanded him in police custody till Monday, joint commissioner of police (crime branch) Santosh Rastogi said. The anti-extortion cell (AEC) of the police is conducting an inquiry in the case.
The city crime branch arrested Tariq Parveen – purportedly an associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim – from south Mumbai on Sunday for allegedly aiding another gangster, Ejaz Lakdawala, in a ₹2 crore extortion case.
A holiday court remanded him in police custody till Monday, joint commissioner of police (crime branch) Santosh Rastogi said. The anti-extortion cell (AEC) of the police is conducting an inquiry in the case.
Lakdawala, who is already been booked in 32 cases of extortion, was arrested from Bihar on January 8. The police filed a fresh first information report (FIR) against him, Parveen and another aide Salim Penwala alias Salim Maharaj alias Dadhi at the MRA Marg police station in Fort for allegedly threatening a south-Mumbai dry fruit businessman in 2013 of pay ₹2 crore and later extorting ₹3 lakh from him.
“Penwala and Parveen were in touch with Lakdawala, who had been changing his locations outside India. Parveen would act as a mediator, and on behalf of the businessman, asked Penwala to bring down the extortion amount,” an AEC officer said.
The extortion amount was later brought down to ₹10 lakh, following which Penwala collected ₹3 lakh from the businessman, the police said.
“The duo then kept threatening the businessman to pay them the remaining ₹7 lakh, following which he closed his business in 2014 and returned to his native place in Gujarat,” the officer said.
The police is trying to trace the chats between Penwala and Lakdawala to discover if the ill-gotten money was invested in any property.
Lakdawala and Penwala are already in police custody till February 15 under the Maharashtra Control of Organiser Crime Act (MCOCA) Act for allegedly extorting ₹2 crore from a Byculla-based builder.
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