Dawood nephew held while trying to flee India

Mumbai - Mumbai Police has arrested terrorist Dawood Ebrahim’s nephew Rizwan Kaskar in connection with an extortion case, an official said Thursday.

Rizwan Kaskar, the son of Ebrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar, was arrested on Wednesday night from the international airport here when he was trying to flee the country, the official said.

Iqbal Kaskar was also earlier arrested in an extortion case and is currently lodged at a jail in neighbouring Thane.

Two days ago, Mumbai Police’s anti-extortion cell arrested Ahmad Raza Wadharia, a close aide of Ebrahim’s gang member Fahim Machmach, in an extortion case, a senior official of the Crime Branch said.

“During his interrogation, Rizwan Kaskar’s name cropped up. Based on the information, a trap was laid and he was detained at the Mumbai international airport on Wednesday night when he was trying to escape from the country,” he said.

He was placed under arrest after detailed interrogation, the official said.

Wadharia, a native of Surat in Gujarat, allegedly worked as a ‘hawala’ operator in Dubai.

In June 2017, a Mumbai-based businessman allegedly received an extortion call and was threatened with dire consequences by Machmach, the official said.

During the investigation, it came to light that Wadharia played a key role in that extortion bid, he said.

After Wadharia’s arrest from the airport, the Mumbai Police questioned him and at that time Rizwan Kaskar’s name cropped up along with other suspects.

“When Rizwan got the information about Wadharia’s arrest, he tried to escape from the country, but was apprehended by the anti-extortion cell team,” he said.

Wadharia earlier also tried to extort money from some other businessmen in Mumbai and Gujarat and threatened them, the official said, adding that a probe was underway.