Charge sheet will prove diesel smuggler’s links with D-gang

The Crime Branch, which claims to have established the nexus between marine diesel smuggler Mohammadali Abu Bakr Sheikh, 54, and fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, will file the charge sheet in the Chand Hussain Madar murder case on December 16 in the designated MCOCA court.

The Crime Branch, which claims to have established the nexus between marine diesel smuggler Mohammadali Abu Bakr Sheikh, 54, and fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, will file the charge sheet in the Chand Hussain Madar murder case on December 16 in the designated MCOCA court.

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Sheikh and eight of his associates are accused of being part of Dawood’s organised crime syndicate.

Additional commissioner of police (crime) Deven Bharati said the crime branch had evidence to prove Sheikh’s links with Dawood. “It’s all there in the charge sheet,” he said, adding that probe is being conducted to know how much property Sheikh accumulated, and move court for their attachment.

The police on Tuesday dispatched letters to various agencies such as the Income Tax (IT) department, Enforcement Directorate (ED), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Customs and Excise to gather information about Sheikh’s wealth.

Earlier, the crime branch had pegged Sheikh’s property to be worth Rs 100 crore. While conducting searches at his residence and office premises, the crime branch allegedly came across documents listing his business transactions.

Sheikh, who began his career as a cycle mechanic in the docks about 20 years ago, has a business empire that has 11 offices in several places of India and abroad, and employs about 7,000 people. One office is located in Dubai while another one in Singapore. In Mumbai, his offices are in Wadi Bunder and Bandra.

He had also contested the last Parliamentary poll on a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ticket.

Sheikh, who had been booked under several stringent laws such as TADA (now defunct) and the National Security Act, has an export-import licence.

Crime branch sources said he owns four flats in Mumbai — two in Sarkar towers at Byculla, one at Agripada and another at Bandstand in Bandra (near Shah rukh Khan’s bungalow).

He owns a fleet of over 250 containers and trailers that operate in the dock area, and also possesses a fleet of 15 forklift cranes. He also has a shopping mall in Allahabad.

The crime branch has found that Sheikh’s trade was conducted in cash, including the overseas business offices. On a regular basis, Rs 25-30 lakh cash used to be paid for filling diesel in his fleet of heavy vehicles.