Mumbai, Nov 5 — The ED attached assets, including properties and bank balances, worth Rs 4 crore in a case of extortion and conspiracy to acquire a property by coercing the owners in the name of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim and his aide Salim Iqbal Qureshi alias Salim Fruit, brother-in-law of Chhota Shakeel, an official said on Thursday.
Based on the investigation, the ED provisionally attached Dongri’s Lambat Building, presently held in the name of Shazia Salim Iqbal Qureshi, wife of Salim Fruit, along with bank balances held by Aslam Abdul Rehman Patni and other accused. The total value of properties provisionally attached is Rs 4 crore, the ED said.
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Mumbai Zonal Office, provisionally attached the movable and immovable properties under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
These properties include movable properties in the form of bank balances and also one immovable property, the ED said.
The ED investigation was initiated on the basis of an FIR registered at Dadar Police Station and subsequently investigated by the Anti-Extortion Cell, Crime Branch, Mumbai Police. The FIR pertains to allegations of criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and use of forged documents.
The investigation revealed that the accused, including Shabbir Ahmed Hassan Karolia and Yusuf Ahmed Hassen Karolia, allegedly conspired to illegally acquire an immovable property named "Lambat Building" by impersonating the original owner and fabricating documents, including a deed of conveyance, the ED said.
The ED investigation revealed that Aslam Abdul Rehman Patni allegedly acquired a 50 per cent share of Lambat Building belonging to Yasmin Mohammed Ahmed and Late Sherzada Jangrez Khan in 2019 by threatening and coercing them in the name of the D-Company, Dawood Ibrahim and Salim Iqbal Qureshi and Salim Fruit.
The original owners were dispossessed of their share without any payment of consideration. Subsequently, the property was transferred by Aslam Patni to Shazia Salim Iqbal Qureshi, wife of Salim Fruit, thereby facilitating its acquisition and retention in the name of the latter’s family, the ED said.
The investigation indicated that the successive transactions were structured to give a semblance of legitimate transfer to a property allegedly acquired through extortion and coercion, with the property ultimately coming to be held in the name of the wife of Salim Fruit, the ED said.