Dawood’s Nephew Kaskar, Others Sent to Police Custody till 29 July

Rizwan Kaskar has been sent to judicial custody till 22 July.

File image of Dawood Ibrahim, whose nephew has been arrested by the Mumbai Police.

(Photo: AP)

Mumbai’s Esplanade Court on Monday, 22 July, sent terrorist Dawood Ibrahim's nephew Rizwan Kaskar, Ahmed Raza and two others to police custody till 29 July in connection with an extortion case, news agency ANI reported.

On Wednesday, Kaskar was arrested by the Mumbai Police at the international airport as he was trying to flee the country. He was sent to judicial custody till 22 July, the report added.

Rizwan’s father and Dawood’s brother, Iqbal Kaskar, was also earlier arrested in an extortion case and is currently lodged at a jail in Thane.

Earlier this month, Mumbai Police's anti-extortion cell had arrested Ahmed Raza Wadharia, a close aide of Fahim Machmach, Ibrahim's gang member, in an extortion case, a senior official of the Crime Branch told PTI.

“During his interrogation, Kaskar's name cropped up. Based on the information, a trap was laid and he was detained at the Mumbai international airport on Wednesday night, when he was trying to escape from the country,” he said.

Wadharia, a native of Surat in Gujarat, allegedly worked as a ‘hawala’ operator in Dubai.

He was arrested from the Mumbai airport earlier this month, because of a tip-off, when he was going to Surat after being deported from Dubai, another official said, adding that he was part of an extortion racket in Mumbai and Surat.

A Mumbai-based businessman allegedly received an extortion call and was threatened with dire consequences by Machmach in June 2017, the official added. Investigation revealed that Wadharia played a key role in that extortion bid.

Mumbai Police questioned Wadharia and, at that time, Kaskar’s name cropped up along with other suspects, who live in Mumbai and Dubai, the official said.

"When Rizwan got the information about Wadharia's arrest, he tried to escape from the country, but was apprehended by the anti-extortion cell team," he said, according to PTI.

Wadharia earlier tried to extort money from some other businessmen in Mumbai and Gujarat and threatened them, the official said, adding that a probe was underway.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)