Chhota Shakeel's aide Salim duped of Rs 50 lakh on promise of relief from NIA probe

Police arrested three people for defrauding gangster Chhota Shakeel’s close aide Salim Fruitwala on Monday. The arrested - identified as Vishal Devraj Singh, Jafar Usmani and Pawan Durijeja - have been accused of duping Fruitwala of Rs 50 lakh by falsely promising to save him from the investigation of the National Investigation Agency in a D-Company-related case.

Frutiwala is in NIA custody until August 17, after his arrest by the central agency on August 4. The agency had found his active role in extorting a huge amount of money in the name of Chhota Shakeel through property dealings and dispute settlements for raising terror funds in furtherance of terrorist activities of D company.

The agency back in May had raided the premises of 13 alleged members of the D-company, including Salim. Post the raids, the agency had revealed that from the premises of the suspected associates of Dawood Ibrahim, various incriminating materials including electronic devices, documents of investments in real estate, cash, huge cash and firearms were seized. 

Details of NIA case

The probe and the subsequent actions come following a February-dated FIR. As per the FIR registered on February 3, Dawood Ibrahim has been accused of running an international terrorist network D-Company that is involved in a number of criminal activities.

This includes arms smuggling, narco-terrorism, the underworld crime syndicate, money laundering, circulation of FICN, and unauthorised possession of assets for raising terror funds. Moreover, the NIA highlighted that D-Company is working in active collaboration with terror outfits such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Al-Qaeda.

It mentioned that Ibrahim controlled his criminal activities in India through his close associates like Haji Anees, Chhota Shakeel, Javed Patel, Tiger Memon, Haseena Parkar and Iqbal Mirchi. Most importantly, the FIR alleged that the D-Company has created a special unit for striking terror in the people of India by attacking eminent personalities of India including political leaders, businessmen and others by using lethal weapons.

The central agency also revealed that Ibrahim and his associates are planning to instigate and trigger incidents that may lead to violence in various parts of India such as Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities.