Businessman Amin Rozani says he is 'still scared' despite an accused's arrest, as others continue to try to extort money from him over the messaging app
Irfan Memon
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While the crime branch last week filed a 333-page charge sheet in the extortion case of poker tycoon Amin Rozani, the businessman claims he was getting threatening messages on WhatsApp as late as the first week of April.
The chargesheet has been filed against accused Irfan Memon, earlier in the news in 2015 after being arrested for thefts committed to fund his drug habit. Rozani is the founder and MD of The Spartan Poker, a poker gaming site.
'More people involved'
In January, Rozani had said he is getting extortion calls from Irfan and others, who identified themselves on the phone as Fahim, Shahaji and Shahaji ke Bande. While Irfan was arrested in February, the others are absconding. Rozani claims he continues to get threat messages and audio clips.
He told mid-day, "I am still scared as the accused continue to threaten me. They had come to my building [before Irfan's arrest] where they clicked pictures of my car and sent me their live location to scare me. More people are possibly involved."
mid-day's January 30 report, 'D-gang recruited shooter on FB chat,' mentioned how the extortionists, including Irfan, were asking Rozani for R50 lakh by posing as Pakistan-based members of Dawood Ibrahim's gang. Sources said Irfan is the elder brother of one Imran Memon, who is one of Rozani's business partners. Imran has stopped talking to Irfan as he is an addict.
Targeting Rozani
Being involved in crimes isn't new to Irfan, who was in the news in 2015 for stealing from hotels and parked cars while driving around in his BMW to fund his drug habit. This time, Irfan wanted to dip his toes into extortion after he managed to get in touch with Pakistan-based gangsters. He decided to target Rozani as he knew about his successful business. He provided every detail he had on the poker tycoon to the gangsters, including his daily schedule and pictures he had clicked of the businessman's Audi. Soon enough, Rozani began getting calls from numbers starting with +92, Pakistan's country code.
Irfan's car-nama
Sources also revealed that Irfan went to the extent of going near Rozani's building while he was sending him threats on WhatsApp in which he said he would kill the poker tycoon and harm his family if he didn't pay up.
To amplify his threat, he also sent his location to Rozani saying 'his man' was near the businessman's home. But Irfan was caught in the act by a security guard, who got suspicious of him after seeing him clicking pictures and asked him what he was doing. In the meantime, the guard also clicked a picture of Irfan. Soon after, Irfan fled on a bike with another man. Scared of the extortion calls, Rozani sold his car, bought a new one and even changed his schedule. He continues to fear for his life.
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