20 November,2023 09:37 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Riyaz Bhati/ File photo
Mumbai Police have registered a case against Riyaz Bhati, an aide to gangster Chhota Shakeel, in connection with various criminal allegations, stated a report in ANI. According to the report, Bhati recently was booked for intimidating a witness in connection to an extortion case.
According to the report, during the period from June 2022 to November 4, 2023, the complainant was relentlessly threatened by Bhati and his close associates; they threatened him to withhold his testimony or testify in favour of Bhati, failing which they would kill him.
Subsequently, Mumbai's Khar police have registered a case under sections 195 (A), 506 (2), and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, encompassing false evidence fabrication, criminal intimidation, and shared criminal intent.
Bhati, who is also an aide to Mumbai's underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim, was reportedly arrested by the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch from Andheri area in connection with an extortion case filed at Goregaon police station.
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Riyaz has been booked over his alleged involvement in a case alongside former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, in an extortion case. Reportedly, he was involved in collecting funds from bar and restaurant owners which was later funnelled to suspended officer Sachin Waze.
"Riyaz Bhati's name is also mentioned in the same FIR which has been registered against Param Bir Singh in an extortion case", the police was quoted as saying by ANI.
Reportedly, his estranged wife, Rehnuma Bhati, also filed a complaint against him alleging rape and molestation by her husband at Santacruz police station.
Riyaz Bhati extortion case
Bhati was arrested with gangster Chhota Shakeel's brother-in-law Salim Qureshi alias Salim Fruit; the two were charged under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). According to the report, Bhati, had threatened a businessman from Versova and demanded a car worth Rs 30 lakhs and Rs 7.5 lakh in cash.
Bhati, who in the past has been arrested in multiple cases, including land grabbing firing etc, had attempted to flee the country twice using fake passports. According to the reports, he had made two failed attempts in 2015 and 2020.
