Jun 21, 2025 09:22 AM IST
special court constituted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has granted bail to Israd Sayyed, an aide of Iqbal Kaskar, the younger brother of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, in connection with a money laundering case.
MUMBAI: A special court constituted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has granted bail to Israd Sayyed, an aide of Iqbal Kaskar, the younger brother of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, in connection with a money laundering case.
The ED had accused Kaskar and his aides, Israd Sayyed and Mumtaz Shaikh, of being the masterminds behind extortion of money and property from builders, and of being knowingly indulging in laundering of proceeds of crime to the tune of ₹78.63 lakh.
The extortion complaint had alleged that in 2017, Kaskar and his associates extorted ₹30 lakh in cash and a flat worth ₹60 lakh in the Neopolis building in Thane from local builder Suresh Jain. Kaskar and his aides allegedly threatened the builder using Dawood’s name and took the flat in the name of Mumtaz Ejaj Shaikh alias Raju, a close associate of Iqbal.
The builder had filed an FIR at the Kasarvadavali police station, claiming that Kaskar’s associates made repeated visits and continued to pressurise him. Based on the FIR, the ED initiated a money laundering investigation on September 26, 2017, and filed a chargesheet in 2022.
Sayyed’s advocate submitted that he is innocent and has committed no crime. The defence stated that he was acquitted under the original MCOCA case based on which the ED case was registered. Relying on the ground of parity, the defence argued that Kaskar has already been granted bail by the high court in the same case. The prosecution argued that Sayyed cannot avail the ground of parity as he threatened Mehta and extorted one flat and ₹20 lakhs from him.
The court observed that the role of Sayyed is similar to that of Kaskar, who was released on bail by the high court. The court said that Sayyed is also acquitted in the MCOCA case, which is the predicate offence. The special sessions judge, Mahesh K Jadhav, in an order passed on June 16, said, “The applicant is also in jail for a long time,” and held that Sayyed is entitled to be released on bail on the grounds of parity.
