Police custody of Iqbal Kaskar, two others extended by four days

Thane (Maharashtra), Sep 27 (IANS) A court here on Wednesday extended by four days the police custody of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar and his two associates arrested in an extortion case by the Thane Anti-Extortion Cell.

Public Prosecutor Rashmi Kshirsagar sought extension in the police custody of Kaskar, Israr Jamil Sayyed, and Mumtaz Ejaz Shaikh when they were presented in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class R.T. Ingle at the end of their eight-day remand.

Kshirsagar said investigation into the extortion case was not yet completed and the police wanted to trace at least two hitmen who were brought to Mumbai to threaten builders so as to extort money from them.

Besides, the investigators wanted to get more details on four flats allegedly grabbed by Kaskar and his associates from a builder and were awaiting documents from a government office.

He said the police also wanted to probe the entire money trail and how arms and ammunition used (to threaten) were procured, among other things, and the investigators were on the lookout for one person supplying firearms.

Kaskar's counsel Shyam Keswani argued that the details of the ongoing investigation were coming out first in the media and most of it were irrelevant to the probe.

He said the alleged visit of Mahejabin Shaikh, wife of Dawood Ibrahim, to India and Dubai, or how the Kaskar family watched together Hindi film "Haseena Parkar", bore no relevance to the present case. The eponymous movie's story is based on Dawood's sister's life.

Keswani also questioned how the investigation was taking so long with the advent of modern technology which he said should have speeded up the probe.

Police accused Kaskar and his associates, who were picked up late on September 18, of threatening a prominent realtor of Thane since 2013 and extorting Rs 30 lakh and four flats in a posh area from him.