Mumbai Crime Branch arrests 5 associated with Dawood's D company

MUMBAI: The Mumbai Crime Branch on Tuesday arrested five people associated with fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim's D company in connection with an extortion case.

The arrests by the crime branch's Anti Extortion Cell come days after the Crime Branch held his close aide Salim Fruit.

Salim Fruit is also the close aide of the gangster Chhota Shakeel and Riyaz Bhati.

Mumbai Crime Branch on October 1 took Salim Fruit, an accused in a Rs 62 lakh extortion case and a relative of Chhota Shakeel, into its custody from jail after a court sent him to Crime Branch custody till October 6.

Salim Fruit is the brother-in-law of Dawood Ibrahim's close aide Chhota Shakeel, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in August.

The arrest was made in a case relating to the activities of D Company. The case was filed suo moto on February 3 pertaining to terrorist or criminal activities.

On September 26, an alleged aide of Dawood Ibrahim, Riyaz Bhati, was arrested by the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch from the Andheri area in connection with the extortion case and was sent to the police custody until October 1 by the Esplanade Court the next day.

Bhati is, reportedly, an accused, along with former Mumbai Police chief Param Bir Singh, in an extortion case lodged at Mumbai's Goregaon police station. After the registration of the case, Bhati had earlier also approached the court, but the court also rejected the anticipatory bail petition at that time.