Mumbai: Lakdawala’s cousin, a top builder, held in extortion ring

MUMBAI: The

city crime branch

on Saturday arrested developer

Nadeem Abdul Sattar Lakdawala

, 49, whose construction firm

Hicons

has built several high-end luxury towers on narrow plots in

Bandra-Khar

over the past decade, in an extortion racket involving his cousin and gangster

Ejaz Lakdawala

.


Ejaz Lakdawala has been arrested earlier. Police claim Nadeem was the gangster’s mole and had allegedly passed on the mobile numbers of the victim, Khalid Qureshi, a member of the Waqf Board.

A lookout notice had been issued for Nadeem, who was arrested as soon as he arrived from Jeddah. The developer owns stud farms in Lonavla and is the fourth person to be arrested for aiding and abetting the gangster.

Held for extortion, ‘mole’ Nadeem likely to face MCOCA charges too

Nadeem has been booked under the IPC sections for extortion and criminal conspiracy and is likely to also face charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Police informers Salim Maharaj, Faiyyaz Sannata and Dawood aide Tariq Parveen had been arrested earlier for aiding and abetting Ejaz Lakdawala in the extortion racket.

Anti-extortion cell officers said Ejaz had revealed during interrogation that Nadeem had provided information and contact details of Khalid Qureshi and his brother Imran. “To scare Qureshi into giving in to his demand for extortion, Ejaz had even sent pictures Qureshi pictures of his son on WhatsApp,” said police officer.

Inspector Ajay Sawant said a lookout notice was issued against Nadeem since he remained absconding.

Police had arrested Ejaz’s daughter Sonia alias Shifa earlier this year as they suspected she was involved in the extortion case, but she was later discharged.

Qureshi had lodged a complaint in November 2019 that Ejaz was threatening him and had demanded a huge sum. With Ejaz continuing to dodge the police, they maintained surveillance on his daughter. When they got information that she was in contact with her father, who was in Nepal, they arrested her just as she was about to catch a flight to Nepal on a fake passport along with her three-month-old daughter. Ejaz, who is wanted in more than 25 offences, was shunting between India and Nepal via Bihar until recently. The mobile numbers used by Ejaz to threaten Qureshi helped cops trace him to Patna.

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