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| Iqbal Kaskar |
Mumbai, May 17: Motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire on Dawood Ibrahim’s brother tonight but killed an aide and were caught in a throwback to the drive-by shootings that rocked Mumbai in the 1980s.
The failed attack on Iqbal Kaskar, younger brother of the Karachi-based don, took place near his residence at Pakmodia Street near Sir JJ Hospital in south-central Mumbai around 9.45pm, police sources said. The street had been the hangout of Dawood during his early years as a gangster.
Kaskar escaped unhurt. One person, identified as Arif Ali Baig and variously described as Kaskar’s bodyguard or driver, was shot in the chest and he succumbed to the injury. Another bodyguard was grievously injured.
“The shooters could not escape as Dawood’s trusted aide Hanif Kutta, believed to be running the don’s illegal businesses in Mumbai with Kaskar, lunged at the bikers and threw them off balance. The bike slipped and skidded and the bikers fell on the road. Bystanders beat them up. But Kutta got them to step back and called in the police,” a police source said.
The police said a third suspect, who had been staking out the area and passing on information to the bikers, escaped. Another account suggested that the police were yet to establish if the overpowered duo were indeed the assailants.
The police sources said one of the suspects had been identified as Iqbal Khatri and he had reached Mumbai from Nepal.
The police are investigating if the attempt on Kaskar was linked to the murder of Farid Tanasha, a close aide of Chhota Rajan who had fallen out with Dawood. A property dispute is also being looked into.
Eyewitnesses told the police that the alleged attack took place when Kaskar was seated along with five to six people at a street-corner restaurant, Delhi Zaika, in Pakmodia Street. But others said he was stepping out of his home when the shooting started.
Kaskar was deported from Dubai in 2003 along with another Dawood henchman Tariq Parveen in connection with the illegal construction of Sara-Sahara shopping complex, located a few yards away from the Crawford Market police headquarters in South Mumbai.
Kaskar and others were accused of constructing twin shopping malls illegally in connivance with corporation officials at the behest of Dawood. They allegedly constructed over 300 shops and 70 storage rooms in the two complexes, though the land belonged to the public works department. Four years later in 2007, Kaskar was acquitted in the illegal construction case on the ground of insufficient evidence.
The sudden deportation of Kaskar had fuelled speculation that Dawood had deputed his brother to Mumbai to get into politics and look after his multi-crore properties. Lodged at the Arthur Road jail, Kaskar had filed nomination to contest the 2004 Assembly elections but withdrew at the last minute.
Less active in the gang compared to Dawood’s other siblings Anees and Noora, Kaskar and his sister Haseena Parkar were the ganglord’s last remaining relatives living in Mumbai after their mother Ameenabi Kaskar died.