Court denies bail to Dawood’s brother Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar

Special PMLA court rejects bail plea of Iqbal Kaskar, brother of Dawood Ibrahim, in money laundering case. Accused of extorting ₹78.63 lakh.

MUMBAI: A special court designated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Friday rejected the bail plea of Iqbal Kaskar, the brother of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, in connection with a money laundering case registered against him.

Mumbai, India - June 8, 2019: Police officials brought Iqbal Kaskar brother of Dawwood Ibrahim to St George hospital for tests, in Mumbai, India, on Saturday, 08 June, 2019. (Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT) (HT PHOTO)

Kaskar had filed a bail application in the case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 2022, primarily on the grounds of delay in starting the trial.

In this case, the ED has accused Kaskar of being the mastermind of extorting money and property from Suresh Mehta and thereby involved in the offence of money laundering to the tune of ₹78.63 lakh, by knowingly indulging in laundering of proceeds of crime as defined under section 3 of PMLA, 2002. Kaskar’s aide Mumtaz Ejaj Shaikh alias Raju and Isarar Jamil Ali Sayyad were named in the chargesheet too.

ED, in its probe, claimed to have found Kaskar’s connection with underworld elements and alleged him to be the key person in the criminal act of extortion. The agency registered the money laundering case against Kaskar and arrested him in February 2022 after raiding multiple properties linked to him. The charges against him were filed under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Kaskar allegedly threatened the builder using Dawood’s name and took the flat in the name of Mumtaz Ejaj Shaikh alias Raju, a close associate of Iqbal. Out of fear, Suresh Devichand Mehta was forced to give ₹20 lakh and also registered a flat in Thane.

Earlier, a special MCOCA court in Thane acquitted Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar in an extortion case. In this, Kaskar was booked for threatening and extorting money from builder Radheshyam Agarwal. However, during the trial, all the witnesses turned hostile.

The trial court had observed that there was no material on record showing the gangsters had acquired the property. The court noted that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against Kaskar, highlighting loopholes in the police investigation and their narrative.