Court Acquits Dawood Ibrahim's Brother Iqbal Kaskar In 2017 Thane Extortion Case

A special MCOCA court on Friday acquitted underworld don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar’s youngest sibling, Iqbal Kaskar, and one other person in connection with an extortion case registered at Kasarwadavali police station in Thane in 2017. The court acquitted them due to lack of evidence.

Kaskar and two others, Mumtaz Shaikh and Israr Sayyad, had been booked by the Thane anti-extortion cell, which was then headed by encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, on the complaint of a Thane-based builder. Shaikh died pending the trial and the case against him was abated. Kaskar and Sayyad were acquitted by the court on Friday for want of corroborative evidence.

Kaskar was at that time booked in three separate cases of extortion by the anti extortion cell and he has now been acquitted in all three cases. Based on these cases, the Thane police had also booked Kaskar for money laundering under the Enforcement Directorate —the last case still pending against him. Despite being acquitted in all three cases, Kaskar will remain in prison until he is released from the money laundering case.

According to the prosecution in the case in which Kaskar was acquitted on Friday, a Thane-based builder claimed he had given two flats and a total of Rs90 lakh to the accused on their demand in 2015–16.

The builder testified that he had purchased land at Kavesar, Thane, for development. However, the legal heirs of one of the owners had a dispute with the builder, claiming they had not received their dues. Shaikh, a real estate agent, approached him for settlement, the builder alleged.

The builder claimed that, days later, Shaikh came to the project site with a person identified as Israr Sayyad. Shaikh allegedly said that Sayyad worked for Kaskar and claimed that Kaskar had purchased the land from the original owner, asserting the builder would need to fulfil their demands to continue the project. Sayyad also made the builder speak to Kaskar.

The builder alleged that the two demanded four flats and Rs30 lakh. In his testimony, the builder claimed that he registered one flat in the name of the original owners, another in Shaikh’s name, and later sold two flats, giving Rs60 lakh to Kaskar. The builder said he had periodically paid the remaining Rs30 lakh to Kaskar.

The builder further claimed that, in June 2017, Shaikh and Sayyad again visited him, saying Kaskar wanted to speak with him regarding the same plot. Out of fear, the builder lodged a police complaint on September 18, 2017.