Have prima facie evidence to believe that cops behind threat calls by gangster Chhota Shakeel: SIT officers

Transcripts of a threat purportedly from gangster Chhota Shakeel have led the SIT probing the extortion case against ex-commissioner Param Bir Singh to a key question — at whose behest was the gangster operating?

Transcripts accessed by mid-day reveal the extent of threats made by gangster Chhota Shakeel to a city businessman, who features in the extortion case against former CP Param Bir Singh and other officers. As per the recordings being probed by Mumbai police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT), Shakeel threatened the businessman at the behest of Shyam Sunder Agarwal. Agarwal was booked under MCOCA for alleged connection with the gangster. But now, the SIT suspects the case against Agarwal, who is a complainant in the FIR against Singh, was fake.
 
Police said these audio recordings of Shakeel, gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s close aide, were latest. According to sources, the phone number from which the threat calls were made to the businessman, Sanjay Punamia, are in the records of the Mumbai Crime Branch and belongs to Shakeel. They added that Shakeel is using the number from Karachi to make extortion calls.

“The number belongs to Shakeel and the voice in the calls is also suspected to be his. But the voice needs to be authenticated with the real samples available with MCOCA court. But it has been delayed due to the lockdown,” an officer of Mumbai Crime Branch told mid-day.

Sources said the calls were made to Punamia allegedly by Shakeel between November 2016 to December 2016, then again between November 26 and November 30, 2020, to sign a deed of settlement with Agarwal (then Punamia’s business partner) for some properties.

Punamia registered a complaint with Juhu police, which filed an FIR against Agarwal in February 2021. Later, Crime Branch’s Unit 09 invoked Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Also read: With 24 gangsters behind bars, extortion calls reduce by 90 pc in city
    

Gangster Chhota Shakeel

The SIT under Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Nimit Goyal, which is probing the extortion case against Singh and others, is now investigating why the FIR was filed in February 2021 when the calls were made in 2016 and 2020. It suspects that the FIR against Agarwal is fake and was filed with the intention to extort money and to pressurise him to sign the deed with his disputed partner Punamia. “We have various recordings and digital evidence to believe that the FIR [against Agarwal] was filed with malicious intentions by the officers being probed by the SIT,” an officer privy to investigation said.

Marine Drive police, which has filed one FIR against Singh in the extortion racket, had last month arrested Punamia and one Sunil Jain. Police sources said that accused arrested and officers named in the extortion case might have asked Shakeel to take Agarwal’s name in his threat call so that they can frame him as and when needed.

“There is various reasons and prima facie evidence to investigate the same, because Agarwal was the complainant against Iqbal Kaskar (Dawood Ibrahim’s brother) in a case. Kaskar was arrested in 2017 by Thane Anti Extortion Cell,” said a police source. In 2017, Singh was the commissioner of the Thane police and former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma was heading the Thane Anti Extortion Cell.

Sharma was recently arrested by the National Investigation Agency in connection with the Antilia bomb threat case and the alleged murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran.

Chhota Shakeel’s threat calls to Punamia were made when Param Bir Singh was the police chief, of Thane in 2016 and then of Mumbai in 2020. File pic

Another extortion FIR was registered against Singh at Thane’s Kopri police station last month, based on a complaint by Agarwal’s nephew Sharad. He had alleged that a DCP-rank officer demanded Rs 20 crore at Singh’s bungalow in Thane to avoid registration of case against his uncle under MCOCA. At that time, Singh was Thane CP. The complainant claimed that he had paid Rs 9 crore through Punamia. It is important to note that Shakeel’s threat calls were made when Singh was the CP, of Thane in 2016 and then of Mumbai in 2020. Agarwal also has a criminal record and around 19 FIRs are registered against him in Thane and Mumbai. He was arrested by Thane Crime Branch in 2016 for his alleged involvement in  the multi-crore Urban Land Ceiling Regulation Act (ULCRA) scam busted in November that year.

Excerpts from the recordings of the calls allegedly made by Chhota Shakeel to Punamia.

One conversation

Punamia: Hello
Shakeel: hello, sanjay bol raha hai?
Punamia: haanji, sanjay baat kar raha hu
Shakeel: pehchana tune?
Punamia: ji
Shakeel: to tune shyam ko andar kyu karaya?
Punamia: maine thodi complaint karaya hai
Shakeel: mai bhai ke ghar se baat kar raha hu ... tere ko idhar from Karachi se hi rocket marunga (I’m speaking from bhai’s [possibly Dawood] house [in Karachi]. Will blow you up with a rocket]
Punamia: aap thoda tameez se baat kar sakte ho na?
Shakeel: tere ko tameez sikhayenge tu aukat me aaja
An unknown person from Shakeel’s side: Mumbai normal hogi to tere ko fir se thokte hai

Another conversation
Punamia: Hello
Sahkeel: haan sanjay...sanjay dutt ka chhota bhai
punamia: hello
Shakeel: ha beta tu sambhal ja
Punamia: Main kar raha hu settlement mujhe do char din ka time do aise aap ekdam kyu pareshan kar rahe ho mujhe
Shakeel: nahi nahi nahi nahi ..... dekho ek baat clear batao pakistan ka to tujhe pata hai na..kya hai pakistan
Punamia: are mujhe kya karna hai kaun hindustan me hai kaun pakistan me hai
Shakeel: idhar bomb bandhega udhar jayega ... uda dega tere ko khatam ho jayegi baat
Punamia: are mai aapko kuchh bol raha hu
Shakeel: tu aaram se settle kar aaj raat tak mujhe bata fon kar ke samajh gaya

Nov 2020
When the latest threat call was made by Chhota Shakeel to a businessman

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