Mumbai (Maharashtra): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted raids at multiple locations linked to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in Mumbai and nearby areas in connection with a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case. ED took gangster Chhota Shakeel's brother-in-law Salim Fruit into custody. A search operation is still underway.
The house of Dawood Ibrahim's sister, late Haseena Parkar was raided in early Tuesday morning by a team of ED officials. Sources said that action is being taken regarding some properties belonging to Iqbal Kaskar and Hasina Parkar. They further revealed that the investigating teams from Delhi and other parts of Maharashtra came to Mumbai for assistance in the probe. The raids are being carried out after the ED and NIA received "concrete evidence".
Salim Fruit was arrested a few years back as well. At that time, the investigation revealed that he had travelled to about 17 to 18 countries in three years, including China, Bangkok, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Turkey. It is suspected that he was running illegal businesses there. According to sources, it is also coming to light that big political leaders are involved in property deals. They said ED raided 10 places during the day, out of which nine are in Mumbai and one is in Thane. "A total of six properties are under investigation. It is learned that the NIA team is assisting ED in this investigation," sources said. No ED officer was ready to come on record on Mumbai raids.
ED is also scanning the money transactions of the politicians and alleged aides of Dawood. Sources said that they had been working on the case for a long time. They further revealed that Dawood is still controlling the real estate business through his middlemen adding that the money is sent to him and his aides through the Hawala network.
This money is further allegedly being used by different terror modules to spread anti-national and terrorist activities across India. Sources said that Pakistan's ISI is supporting Dawood in running his business and spreading terror activities from the money earned from the business. As of now, ED has not given any official statement. A property deal had come on their radar after which a money-laundering probe was initiated, sources said.
