MCOCA court acquits Iqbal Kaskar, three others in ₹90L extortion case

MUMBAI: A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Friday acquitted Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar, the younger brother of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, and three others arrested for extorting ₹90 lakh from a Thane-based builder. Kaskar, however, will not step out of jail, as he continues to be incarcerated in a money-laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against him for the same crime.

Special judge BD Shelke pronounced only the operative part of the order on Friday, acquitting the four -- Kaskar, Israr Jamil Ali Sayyed, Mumtaz Ejaz Shaikh, and Pankaj Gangar. A detailed order has not yet been made available.

The case was based on a complaint filed with the police by builder Suresh Devichand Jain who, along with his partners, ran Darshan Enterprises and Sai Uma Corporation, a construction and properties business. In 2013, Jain signed an agreement with a certain Bharati Bhosale and several others who owned a plot in Waghbil, Thane, to set up a development project there.

Advocate Tabish Mooman, representing Kaskar, said Jain allegedly did not pay Bhosale’s part of share or the promised flat in lieu of the land. Following this, Bhosale’s son and Mumtaz approached Jain, seeking compensation. In May 2015, Shaikh and Bhosale’s son approached Jain claiming Bhosale had not received her share, but Jain refuted this. A week later, Shaikh and Sayyed approached Jain and said they were Kaskar’s aides and demanded he settle Bhosale’s share. Following this, Kaskar allegedly spoke on the phone with Jain, demanding the same and an additional four flats and ₹30 lakh, and threatened to kill him if he failed to comply.

In his complaint, Jain alleged Kaskar’s aides continued to visit him over many weeks, with the same demand. Frightened by perpetual threats, Jain said he registered a flat in Neopolis, Kavesar, in Shaikh’s name, and another flat in Bhosle’s name. He also claimed he transferred ₹90 lakh in instalments to Shaikh.

In June 2017, after Jain alleged that Kaskar’s men threatened him again, he approached the police. The police invoked provisions of MCOCA in the case based on Kaskar’s previous offences of extorting builders. The four were arrested in 2017, and Shaikh passed away in jail.

Advocate Mooman argued that the flats and the cheques were given to Shaikh and not to the actual Kaskar. Kaskar has never met Suresh Jain. “Neither Suresh Jain nor Bharati Bhosale have ever met Kaskar. A random person claimed to be Kaskar. Iqbal Kaskar’s personal phone number is not shown anywhere,” he said.

In 2022, the ED registered a case against the four accused for extorting Jain. Mooman said he has applied for bail before the special PMLA court for the case registered by ED against Kaskar.

According to Mooman, the Thane police have registered two cases against Kaskar in 2017. Apart from Jain, he has allegedly extorted another builder, Radheshyam Agarwal, for which a special MCOCA court in Thane acquitted him in June 2024 after the witnesses, including the complainant, refused to align with their statements given to the police.