Mumbai: An aide of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim arrested by Mumbai police earlier in an extortion case has been nabbed by the police in neighbouring Thane for allegedly threatening a builder to leave a housing society redevelopment project, an official said Tuesday.
Riyaz Bhati was arrested Saturday by the Thane police’s anti-extortion cell on Saturday a complaint filed by Ambernath-based builder Surajit Rayon, a police official said. He also stated that initially the news of the arrest was kept a secret.
Rayon had complained against Riyaz Bhati, 1993 serial blast approver Usman Khan, Afghan Babu Khan, Aslam Sheikh and Kamal Jadwani, the official said.
Rayon has told police that he inducted Kamal Jadwani as a partner after he won a contract to redevelop ‘Andheri Stadium View Society’ from MHADA in 2012, the official informed.
“Jadwani in turn made Bhati and Afghan Khan partners in the project. They then started pressuring Rayon to leave the project and promised to give him a flat and rupees one crore in cash. Rayon has claimed that Bhati and Afghan Khan usurped his 4,500 square feet project worth Rs 50 crore,” the official said quoting the complaint.
The official said Rayon has alleged that the duo had forced him speak to fugitive gangster Chhota Shakeel when he was reluctant to toe their line.
“Rayon had filed a written complaint against Bhati, Usman Khan, Afghan Khan, Aslam Sheikh and Kamal Jadwani earlier but the FIR was lodged only in 2018. We arrested Bhati after he failed to get relief from the Sessions and High Court,” senior inspector Rajkumar Kothimire of Thane stated.
Kothimire also informed that Jadwani had disassociated from the project earlier but the role of Usman, Afghan and Aslam Sheikh is under scanner.
Bhati, charged under sections 387 (extortion), 388 (extortion by threat of accusation) and 363 (kidnapping), has been remanded in police custody till October 19, Kothimire said.
PTI