The arrest of Rizwan Kaskar, the nephew of terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, and two of his accomplices in connection with an extortion case has brought to light an interesting modus operandi gangsters are now employing.
In order to make threat calls to the victim, gangster Fahim Machmach not just made direct voice calls, but also sent WhatsApp voice messages on his aide's mobile phone so that it travels in a chain and reaches the complainant, reveal officers of the Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai crime branch.
This is primarily to ensure that no traces of evidence are left behind so as to avoid police attention.
Other than Kaskar, Ahmedraja Wadharia and Ashfaq Towelwala have also been arrested and the cops suspect this racket to be big as it has roots in the D Company. A police officer, while explaining the behind-the-scenes drama, of the incident said Towelwala and the complainant used to deal in electronic equipment which would come from Dubai and China. To avoid tax, traders would escalate the product price but would show it less on paper and the remaining money was embezzled to China via Dubai through hawala system.
"If by chance, any trader fails to deliver money to other party for any reason, he corners himself from the system and directly refuses to repay the cash. In the market world, this system is called 'Topa' and in order to get the stuck money, gangsters are approached by victims to seek help and defaulters approach gangsters to seek protection. Usually the defaulters pay more money, so they tend to get help by notorious men who then start sending threat calls with a warning of facing dire consequences," said an officer. In Rizwan's case, after demonetisation, there was financial crunch in the market so that cash flow was close to nil. So in order to escape from paying profit amount, Towelwala approached Wadahria who then sought help of Rizwan to get in touch with Machmach and Chota Shakeel. Machmach would record his threat voice message and would send that to Wadharia and it later reached out to the complainant.
"Sending such messages serves two purposes, the complainant is convinced not to bother his opponent for money and secondly there are no traces of any evidence left in the trail. Direct voice calls were made from international numbers and total three mobile phones were seized from Wadharia who had those threat messages. Wadharia has also mortgaged two passports in return of money. This is an evolving modus operandi for extorting money," the officer added.
Modus Operandi
- Gangster Fahim Machmach made direct voice calls and sent WhatsApp voice messages on aide’s phone
- The message travels in a chain, but ensures no traces of evidence are left behind for the cops
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