MCOCA court grants bail to Chhota Shakeel aide Salim Fruit in extortion case

Salim Fruit. File pic

The special MCOCA court in Mumbai on Wednesday granted bail to Mohammed Salim Qureshi, alias Salim Fruit, brother-in-law of gangster Chhota Shakeel, in an extortion case, an official said.

Fruit and his associates allegedly demanded an extortion amount of Rs 62 lakhs from a businessman. Fearing for his safety, the businessman transferred Rs 7.5 lakhs and handed over his Range Rover, valued at Rs 30 lakhs. The businessman later filed a complaint with the Versova police, and the case was transferred to the Anti-Extortion Cell, which arrested Fruit in October 2022.

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In a separate case, Fruit was also arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2022 in connection with a case involving D-Company.

The charges against D-Company include terrorist and criminal activities, smuggling, narco-terrorism, money laundering, circulating counterfeit Indian currency, and acquiring assets to fund terrorism. The case alleges that Dawood Ibrahim and his associates were working in collaboration with international terrorist organizations, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and Al Qaeda.

While Fruit has been granted bail in the extortion case, he will remain in jail as his bail plea in the NIA case is still pending before the High Court.