Finding no space to park, 5 men damage 30 vehicles near JJ Marg

Mateen Hafeez





Mumbai: Angry over finding no space to park their car and bike, five men went on a rampage in the JJ Marg area in the early hours of Thursday and damaged over 30 parked vehicles with iron rods. According to police, the men abused and molested some women at Null Bazar area and then went to Dunkan Road where they damaged vehicles. The police arrested all the five including the prime suspect, Imran Kashmiri (35) and Mehdi Ali (32) and booked them for rioting, molestation and destruction of private property .
“They had gone to Sion to celebrate the birthday of one of them. When they returned to Null Bazar where most of them reside, Imran couldn't find parking space. He got angry and started abusing the women sitting on the footpath there,“ said a police officer. His bike battery was stolen twice and he suspected the homeless women were behind the theft. “He abused and molested the women. When someone called the police control room, they left for Duncan Road near Grant Road. There, too, they didn't find space to park their bike and car.They got angry and started hitting the parked vehicles, including SUVs, sedans and tempos, and broke their windshields.
Hearing the noise, a crowd gathered there. They caught one of them, while four others escaped. Imran was handed over to JJ Marg police. He led the cops to the others, who were then arrested. The VP Road police are also making inquiries since some vehicles from their jurisdiction were also damaged.

The Times of India, August 26, 2016

Man arrested after wife jumps to death from bldg

Mateen Hafeez  I TNN





Mumbai: The Byculla police on Tuesday arrested a 28-year-old private firm employee on charges of abetting his wife's suicide. Rupa Jadhav (25), a homemaker, jumped from the 22nd floor of a Mhada building in Reay Road area around10.30am Monday . “Rupa left home when Sagar was having a bath. The couple, who have two-year-old son, had had a fight earlier. When Jadhav went in search of her, she was standing on the 22ndfloor,“ a po lice officer said. Sagar and their neighbours pleaded her not to take any extreme step, but she jumped.
A preliminary probe found that the couple, who got married three years ago, had frequent fights. “Whenever they fought, Rupa would go to her sister's home in Panvel. She told her brother also about the fights,“ the officer said.
Her brother lodged a complaint against Sagar of harassment for dowry and abetment to the suicide. Sagar has been sent to police custody for a day.

The Times  of India, August 24, 2016

Family yet to recover from shock of losing 5 members to IS

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Four Adults & An Infant Among 10 From Kerala Who Left In June 

Mumbai: Twenty-six-yearold Ashfaque Ahmed's extended family is in much more trauma than meets the eye. It is the only family so far to lose five of its members, including a one-and-a-half-year-old girl, to the Islamic State (IS). Ashfaque's family had no inkling as he along with wife and infant daughter, his cousins Mohammed Siraj (22) a businessman and Dr Ejaz Rehman (30), a medical practitioner, left the country together in June.
“This is shocking. Four members of an extended family were inclined to join the banned outfit. We are questio ning preacher Mohammed Haneef, now in crime branch custody , about his role in instigating Ashfaque and others to join IS,“ said a crime branch officer.

In the last week of June, Ashfaque's youngest brother received a message on his mobile from him, saying he had migrated to the IS territory and did not want to come back. “Take care of mother and father,“ read the last line.

His father Abdul Majeed filed an FIR with Nagpada police on August 6, naming Haneef, Abdur Rasheed, a Kerala school teacher (who travelled to Syria with Ashfaque), Navi Mumbai resident Arshi Qureshi and Kalyan resident Rizwan Khan as the ones who “instiaged his son to join IS.“
In the FIR, Majeed stated he belongs to the Barveli sect of Muslims. “However, my son was inclined towards the Ahl e-Hadees sect and converted to it in 2014. He got married in April 2014 and we were in the dark. Ashfaque informed us about his marriage later,“ said Majeed, 60, who owns seve ral guest houses in Mumbai.Majeed has two sons and a daughter. Ashfaque, a commerce graduate, is the eldest.

It is still not clear if Ashfaque took his wife out of India forcibly or if she went with him on her own. But in March-April this year, Ashfaque and his wife went to Sri Lanka for religious education. In 2014, there were visible changes in Ashfaque, Majeed told police. “He stopped listening to music, watching television, changed his clothing style and started sporting a beard. The drastic changes and the people he met had the family worried,“ Majeed said in his statement. Ashfaque would mostly be in the company of his cousins, Rehman and Siraj, and no one doubted their conversations.
While Majeed blamed Ha neef for “brainwashing“ his son, the Mumbai crime branch has not yet found clinching evidence to establish that Haneef sent Ashfaque out of the country .

A source told TOI, “Majeed bought a flat worth over Rs 1.25 crore in the western suburbs for Ashfaque as he wanted him to settle here and look after his business. The day Ashfaque came to see the flat, he inquired about its mode of payment. When Majeed said he had taken 40% of the amount on loan, Ashfaque refused to enter the flat saying he would not stay at a place which was bought with the help of a bank's `interest' money .“

Police sources said Haneef did admit that Ashafque and his cousins would meet him in Kerala. Rehman, who runs a clinic in Kerala, often met Qureshi when the latter visited Padne village. Majeed told police whenever Ashfaque visited Mumbai he would meet Qureshi and Khan. “We are interrogating Haneef and will soon take custody of Qureshi and Khan from the Kerala police. We are going through all records and it is too early to comment,“ said Sanjay Saxena, joint commissioner of police, crime branch.

The Times of India, August 22, 2016

Man behind 60 illegal kidney transplants held

Sumitra Deb Roy & Mateen Hafeez





Mumbai: On the run for 12 years, one of Mumbai's notorious kidney racketeers, Shiva, was finally nabbed on Friday .He is accused of having facilitated over 60 illegal transplants from 1996 to 2003 involving some well-known private hospitals in the city.
Officers from Azad Maidan police station said they detained Shiva from Marine Lines. He had jumped bail within months of his arrest in 2004. “Shiva told us that he was here in search of a job after he ran out of money . He had been hiding in his hometown in Kolhapur ever since he jumped bail. We are verifying all the details. We have also called crime branch officials who had arrested him then,“ an officer said.

Shiva, who is 45 now, was accused of scouring for recipients and forging papers to establish a relationship between donors and recipients for approvals.
His interrogation is on.

We nabbed him on spe cific information. Once his identity is established as the same absconding accused, he will be handed over to the crime branch,“ an officer said.

Former police officer Dinesh Agrawal (58) still has clear memories of arresting Shiva for the first time from a dingy Malad hotel on December 18, 2003. Agrawal, then a police inspector with VP Road police station, recalled how they were on the lookout for more than a year before Shiva was netted with help from his angry mistress. Although the conman, who operated from 1996 till his arrest, was accused of masterminding more than 60 illegal transplants, police could establish only 20 cases.

Agrawal said they knew little about Shiva's whereabouts at that time, except that he would appear from nowhere and vanish into thin air. Drug addicts and homeless people were always his targets. “He would convince them they would be compensated by the government and it was a noble deed,“ the retired officer said.Shiva had told the police then that doctors would put him in touch with potential recipients. Once the blood group of donors matched, Shiva would also take care of their nutrition and overall health. The racket remained confined to the western suburbs, between Malad and Borivli.

“During interrogation, we learned that Shiva was a car cleaner at a leading south Mumbai hospital and gradually got into the business of selling blood. Over the years, with generous help from doctors, he picked up tricks of the kidney trade,“ said Agrawal.As the case grew bigger involving more players, it was transferred to the crime branch. Shiva was handed over to the crime branch on December 29. After obtaining bail, Shiva absconded. He has already been acquitted in one of the cases, while another is pending in court.

Sr health officer transferred
Assistant director of the Directorate of Health Services (DHS), Dr BK Kadam, currently under scanner in the Hiranandani kidney scam, has been transferred to Nanded. Head of DHS Dr Mohan Jadhav tried to underplay the transfer, saying it was not linked to the ongoing issue.

The Times of India, August 20, 2016

Vikhroli slum tense after 2-yr-old's rape

Mateen Hafeez





Neighbour Caught After Crime In Jungle, Thrashed By Locals

 

Mumbai: Ram Nagar, a shanty settlement on a hill in the suburb of Vikhroli, experienced a spontaneous bandh on Saturday and more than 500 people staged a protest after a two-anda-half-year-old girl was raped by her 23-year-old neighbour on Friday night. The locals caught Sushant Singh, an unemployed man, and thrashed him before handing him over to police.
JD More, assistant commissioner of police, said around 9.15 pm, Singh had taken the girl from her house on the pretext of buying chocolates for her. As she did not return after half an hour, her mother informed the neighbours, who immediately started a search. As the news spread, a local recalled seeing Singh taking the girl toward the stairs that leads to the jungle.

The child's father, a watchman, had gone for work when the incident happened.
More than a hundred youngsters entered the jungle to search for her. The girl was found unconscious on the hill around 700 metres away from her home.

“The locals found the girl lying unconscious near Khandoba Tekri, on the hill, around 10.30 pm. A few metres away , they saw Singh. As the girl was bleeding, they suspected somet hing fishy . Some youngsters became angry and started beating Singh who then admitted to having sexually assaulted her,“ said a police officer.

The girl was taken home and her father had, by then, returned home after hearing about her being missing. “She was rushed to Rajawadi hospital.The doctors operated up on the girl and she is now stable,“ said police inspector Prakash Chaughale.

A police team rushed the spot and took Singh in to custody. He has been booked for kidnapping and raping a minor.The girl's mother became unconscious after hearing that she was sexually assaulted. She was given first aid. On Saturday morning, all the restaurants and shops, including medical stores, were shut and over 500 people gathered at Ram Nagar to stage a protest. Police force was deployed in the area to maintain law and order.

“We want a speedy trial and fast conviction. It's a heinous crime. The man had assaulted a girl who cannot even speak properly ,“ an angry local said. “It's the police's job to ensure he is convicted. We want this case to be tried in the fast track court,“ said another resident.
Singh was produced before a court on Saturday and remanded in police custody .

The Times of India, August 14, 2016

Just before I-Day, bag creates bomb scare near Taj hotel

Swati Deshpande & Mateen Hafeez

Mumbai: 



An unclaimed bag found in a building close to Bade Miya eatery in Colaba created a bomb scare on Friday afternoon. With the Independence Day just a couple of days away , the scene on the road behind Taj Mahal hotel suddenly became grim: several shops downed their shutters and a crowd gathered, with some recalling scenes from the 2611 terror siege of 2008.

Colaba police and the bomb disposal squad with Snowy , the sniffer labrador, arrived swiftly, cleared the building, Lansdowne House, and closed the road. While local residents and shop staff said they heard a loud bang, assistant police commissioner R Chavan said it was “nothing''. He thanked people for being alert. The person who spotted the bag -a zipper bag with old clothes as it turned out -was Abdul Kadir, a security guard at a third floor office in Lansdowne building. He alerted a manager about the unclaimed bag on the third floor landing. The manager immediately informed police around 3 pm.
It took about half an hour for police to announce there was no suspicious object or harmful material in the bag. Subsequently , some shops reopened.
DCP Ashok Dudhe, city police spokesman, said police did not find anything suspicious.Since the road is always busy due to its financial and tourist status, a large number of people gathered near the lane near the Gateway of India, wanting to know what was happening.
The cops then went with the sniffer dog to a building behind, also to find nothing. Before leaving the site, ACP Chavan addressed the group of onlookers and stressed: “Please be alert and stay alert for the next three days.“

The Times of India, August 13, 2016

Police say Zakir Naik got Rs 60cr in 3 years from abroad

Mateen Hafeez





He Then Moved Entire Sum To Kin's Bank ACs 

Mumbai: A total of Rs 60 crore was deposited in controversial televangelist Zakir Naik's bank account in the last three years from three different countries, a Mumbai police investigation has found. The money was transferred to five accounts belonging to Naik's family members, a police officer who did not wish to be named said. Police sources said they had probed the money angle and found details of all transactions.“We still don't know what this money was meant for. We have made an inquiry and found the money trail. The money was transferred to family members' accounts,“ said the officer.
The account, the officer made clear, does not belong to Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) but is his own.
Police are looking into the financial transactions of Naik and the IRF . However, they are yet to question IRF officials.“We may question them about the source of income, the connection between the depositors and Naik,“ said the officer.
A decision on whet her to initiate action ag ainst Naik's two NGOs under the Foreign Cont ributions (Regulation) Act 2010 is yet to be taken. The Union home ministry is examining possible FCRA violations by IRF and IRF Educational Trust, both registered as “educational“ NGOs under FCRA but reportedly receiving and utilising foreign funds for “religious and religion-linked“ activities. A source close to Naik ho wever said, “There is no illegal transaction. The money came into the bank account, and all the records of IRF have been cleared till 2015 by the income-tax department. Whatever money came is in white and all the records are maintained. This also helps the country's foreign exchange to grow.“

Mumbai police are also probing the accounts of an international school run by Naik. A police inquiry report, submitted to commissioner D D Padsalgikar recently , was compiled after going through the bank statements and money transfers, sources said.

TOI had on Wednesday reported that the Maharashtra government is all set to book Naik for promoting religious enmity . The tele-preacher has been under the scanner after a probe into the July 1 Dhaka at tack revealed two of the attackers were inspired by him.

Last month, Kerala police registered a case of forcible conversion against Arshi Qu reshi and Rizwan Khan and arrested the two. Qureshi was in the past attached to the IRF .Mumbai police on August 6 registered a case against four per sons, including Khan and Qureshi, for allegedly radicalizing Ashfaque Abdul Majeed, 22, a Kerala resident, and instigating him to join the IS.

Dr Zakir Naik

The Times of India, August 11, 2016

Kuwaiti held for aiding Kalyan youths

Mateen Hafeez





Kuwait Cops Arrest Man Who Wired $1000 In 2014 

Mumbai: A Kuwaiti national who provided finan cial aid to four Kaly an youths to reach Syria and join ISIS in 2014, was arrested earlier this week. Kuwait police arrested Abdullah Hadi Al-Enezi (32), on charges of financing the proscribed terror outfit and providing $1,000 to four Indians who ran out of money in Baghdad to travel to Syria. Enezi is the first foreigner arrested abroad on information provided by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which had sent a Mutual Legal Assistance request to Kuwait with details of the money transfer. The money was provided to the first batch of Indian youths who joined the IS in May-June 2014. The youths, Areeb Majeed, Fahad Shaikh, Aman Tandel and Shaheem Tanki, all residents of Kalyan, had left India under the pretext of going for a pilgrimage to Iraq.
Majeed briefly fought for IS before returning to India in November 2014, while the rest of his associates are still in Syria.There were unconfirmed reports that Tanki died in an attacks on an IS camp last year.
Majeed, who was arrested on returning to Mumbai, told the NIA that in Baghdad they bought five Iraqi SIM cards.“Tanki told us he knew Abdul Rehman Daulati, an Afghan national, who had assured him help on reaching Baghdad. Tanki called up Daulati and informed him that we had reached Baghdad. Daulati said he was trying to arrange for a person who could help us go to Syria.Tanki gave him my mobile number,“ Majeed told cops.
who also asked them to wait.“On May 27, 2014, when I contacted Daulati, he gave us the mobile number of a person who he said was a Kuwaiti national and told us to contact him. I then messaged the Kuwaiti via Whatsapp and asked if Daulati had told him about money , to which he replied in the affirma tive. He informed us he will send it through Western Union Money Transfer and we could collect it next day. We contacted Enezi next day and he sent me the money transfer code via Whatsapp. Using my passport as ID and the transfer code, we got $1,000. We paid $500 to the hotel to extend our stay by a week,“ said Majeed. The rest of the money was used to travel to Syria via Mosul.
After his arrest in Kuwait early this week, Enezi admitted he sent money to the Kalyan youths in Baghdad, said media reports. He also admitted to financing several other terror recruits after his return from Pakistan in 2013. Kuwait shared the information on Enezi with In dia after Indian agencies provided them information on Majeed and the others. Letter rogatories (requests from courts in one country to those in another) to probe Majeed's social networking sites, bank transactions, emails and phone networks were sent to many countries including the US, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Turkey and China.


 The Times of India, August 7, 2016

Afghan link had studied in Thane college

Mateen Hafeez



Mumbai:The Afghan national, who was the link between the four Kalyan youths who joined IS, and their Kuwaiti financier, had studied in a Thane college. Abdul Rehman Daulati (27), a suspected recruiter for the IS, earlier studied engineering in Kalsekar College. In October 2014, Kalyan's Bazar Peth police registered a case against four people, including Daulati, another Afghan national Ahmed Husseinzade, Kalyan-based fruit merchant Aadil Dolare and Govind Thapa, manager of Raja Hotel in Kalyan, for violating rules on a foreigner's stay in India. Police said the duo stayed in the lodge though their documents mentioned a different address. The probe was taken over by the ATS. The purpose of Husseinzade's entry into India is still not clear.

At the time of the FIR, police were unaware Daulati was an IS recruiter. His name cropped up again only after Areeb Majeed, a Kalyan youth who joined IS, returned to India and was arrested. Majeed told police Daulati gave them the number of Abdullah Hadi El-Enezi, a Kuwaiti who sent them money to reach Syria.
In 2013, Daulati came to Kalyan for a few days, married a 17-year-old girl from the area and returned to Afghanistan.The girl is in touch with her parents over phone, said an ATS officer and cops ruled out a human trafficking angle. “Importantly , he already has a wife in Afghanistan,“ the officer said.
Both the Afghan nationals had come to Kalyan on Dolare's invitation, who had given an undertaking stating they would stay at his place.


The Times of India, August 7, 2016

Kuwaiti held for funding IS men from Kalyan





A 32-year-old man has been arrested in Kuwait for arranging funds for the travel of four Kalyan youths from Iraq to Syria to join the IS in May 2014, reports Mateen Hafeez. Abdullah Hadi Al-Enezi, the first foreigner arrested on details provided by the NIA, gave Areeb Majeed, Fahad Shaikh, Aman Tandel and Shaheem Tanki $1,000 after the group ran out of funds in Baghdad. Al-Enezi is learned to have admitted to “terror financing".

 

The Times of India, August 7, 2016