Mumbai Crime Branch on Friday sent Chhota Shakeel’s aide Abbas to police custody till January 7, for allegedly threatening journalist-turned-activist S. Balakrishnan for making the highest bid on ‘ Delhi Zaika’ Hotel, one of the seized properties of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
Abbas has been arrested under the IPC section 506 for criminal intimidation and he will be charged under more sections as the investigation deepens.
According to the police, Abbas had been sending messages and making calls to Balakrishnan from December 1st to 21st last year, threatening to kill him if he did not stop making a bid on Dawood’s prized property.
Abbas had been calling the veteran journalist using a Dubai SIM card and the police are maintaining that the henchman was following instruction from someone abroad. A SIM card, a cell phone and cash have been recovered from Shakeel’s aide.
Already there are four cases that have been slapped against Abbas out of which three are for attempted murder and one for physical assault. On December 9th, Balakrishnan made the highest bid of Rs. 4.28 crores in the public auction for the ‘ Delhi Zaika’.
The first bid for the property was made by Balakrishnan, who had alleged that he was threatened by Dawood’s top aide Chhota Shakeel to back out.
Balakrishnan reportedly said that a man sitting in Pakistan cannot dictate terms to the country. The auction of Dawood property was followed by a court order and was held in December 9 at Hotel Diplomat in Colaba.
Soon after the property was owned by Balakrishnan, the paper work was handed over to the journalist who later visited the spot and expressed his desire to open an education centre for poor children’s there.
