Dawood Gang Member's NIA Custody Extended Till Aug 24 by Mumbai Court

Salim Qureshi, arrested for allegedly aiding underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s terrorist activities, was completing the task left behind by the fugitive gangster’s deceased sister Haseena Parkar, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) told a special court here on Wednesday. The NIA made this claim while seeking further custody of Qureshi alias Fruitwala. The court extended his custody till August 24. Qureshi, a close aide of Chhota Shakeel, a key member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang, was arrested by the NIA on August 4 and produced before special judge BD Shelke on Wednesday at the end of his previous remand period.

The probe agency sought his remand for another 10 days, saying there are voluminous documents that needed to be examined and confronted with the accused. The central probe agency told the court that global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim’s sister Parkar, who died in 2014, was an accused in many extortion cases and was carrying out these unlawful activities for her brother.

Qureshi is completing the task left behind by Parkar (after her death), the NIA told the court. The anti-terror agency said the accused travelled to Pakistan and Gulf countries on many occasions and they need to find out the purpose of these visits.

Besides extortion, Qureshi was also involved in smuggling of gold and high-end valuables, the NIA said. Opposing the remand extension plea, Qureshi’s lawyer said after going through thousands of pages of documents the NIA has not identified even a single property belonging to his client and claimed the agency was indulging in a “fishing enquiry” (asking questions not connected with the subject matter).

The defence lawyer submitted that relegating the accused to the level of Parkar was a false and bogus contention and Qureshi has nothing to do with her. The court, after hearing arguments of both sides, extended the custody of Qureshi till August 24. The NIA has alleged Qureshi played an active role in extorting huge amounts of money in Shakeel’s name from property dealings and dispute settlements for raising “terror funds in furtherance of terrorist activities of D Company (criminal syndicate controlled by Dawood Ibrahim)”.

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