MUMBAI: The Bombay Excessive Courtroom on Friday granted bail to Iqbal Kaskar, brother of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, in a cash laundering case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The case stemmed from a 2017 extortion criticism, and the Excessive Courtroom’s order successfully clears the trail for Kaskar’s launch, because it was the final pending matter protecting him behind bars.
Iqbal Kaskar, brother of Dawwod Ibrahim, is seen on the Smuggling and International Trade Manipulation Act (SAFEMA) workplace at Nariman Level, Mumbai. (Kunal Patil/HT file picture)
A particular MCOCA courtroom had acquitted Kaskar on April 26 within the authentic extortion case, which shaped the predicate offence for the ED’s probe beneath the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA). The extortion criticism had alleged that in 2017, Kaskar and his associates extorted ₹30 lakh in money and a flat price ₹60 lakh within the Neopolis constructing in Thane from native builder Suresh Jain.
Jain, who ran Darshan Enterprises and Sai Uma Company, had signed a improvement settlement in 2013 with Bharati Bhosale and others to assemble a housing mission on their Waghbil land in Thane. Based on advocate Tabish Mooman, who appeared for Kaskar, Jain allegedly didn’t compensate Bhosale as promised—both in money or via a flat.
Jain filed an FIR on the Kasarvadavali police station, claiming that Kaskar’s associates made repeated visits and continued to pressurise him. Out of worry, he mentioned, he registered flats within the names of Bhosale and Shaikh, and transferred ₹90 lakh to Shaikh in instalments.
Primarily based on the FIR, the ED initiated a cash laundering investigation on September 26, 2017, and filed a chargesheet in 2022. Kaskar was arrested on February 18 that yr.
In June 2023, the ED sought switch of the MCOCA trial to the Mumbai periods courtroom, the place the cash laundering case was being heard. The Thane particular courtroom allowed the switch.
Citing the sluggish tempo of trial, Mooman later filed a bail software, noting that no witnesses had been examined in courtroom up to now. He argued that because the alleged laundering quantity was under ₹1 crore, the offence was bailable beneath Part 45 of the PMLA. Nevertheless, the particular courtroom rejected the plea on June 26, 2024.
Kaskar then moved the Bombay Excessive Courtroom, sustaining he was falsely implicated and had already spent three years in custody for an offence carrying a minimal sentence of three years. His petition additionally contended that continued incarceration violated his elementary rights beneath Article 21 of the Structure.
Mooman additional argued that the ED had failed to provide any proof linking Kaskar to the extorted money or flats, nor was there any proof connecting him to the alleged conspiracy.
Being attentive to these arguments, Justice Milind Jadhav noticed that the prosecution had failed to determine Kaskar’s guilt within the MCOCA trial, and accordingly, granted him bail. “When the prosecution fails to prove the accused’s guilt in the predicate offence, the accused should be granted bail in the PMLA offence,” the courtroom dominated.