Author: Times News Network
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 28, 2004
A high-ranking IPS officer, believed
to be close to a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) politician in Maharashtra,
was responsible for getting Dawood Ibrahim's younger brother Iqbal Kaskar
to withdraw his nomination for assembly elections.
Kaskar, who was planning to contest
as an independent, was pitted against NCP's Bashir Patel from Umerkhadi
constituency.
Sources said that a few days ago,
the IPS officer, through his subordinates, had sent a message to Kaskar
and his front men in Mumbai that "the cops would not spare him if he contested".
The cops were apparently worried about residents and businessmen of Umerkhadi
being threatened to vote for Kaskar. NCP candidate Bashir Patel and his
party workers had also received threats from persons linked to Dawood gang.
This had prompted a senior EPS officer to clip the wings of Kaskar, who
is currently lodged at Arthur Road jail.
However, there are a few other factors
which could have prompted Dawood ka 'bhai' to pull out of the race. Kaskar
feared that police would book him in fresh cases for issuing threats to
rival politicians. In March last year, when Kaskar was discharged in a
murder case at MRA Marg police station, the cops had booked him under MCOCA
in the Sara shopping centre case. The other reason why he chose to opt
out could be that his brother-in-law Khalil Memon is contesting from the
Samajwadi Party ticket from Umerkhadi constituency. "There may have been
an understanding between the duo," the of ricer reasoned.
An officer debunked a tabloid report
about Kaskar withdrawing because "he was afraid that his campaign would
reveal all the secrets of Dawood gang and its network in Mumbai." "If that
was the case, then Kaskar would have never filed his nomination papers,"
the officer explained.
Another aspect which the cops were
worried about was the votes polled by Kaskar in case he contested. "Even
if he got 5,000 votes, it would have been a mockery of the election process
that such a large number of people supported him despite his criminal background,"
an officer stated.
The police also anticipated a major
law and order problem if Kaskar was defeated in the polls-Kaskar's chances
of winning were low.
